and not to admit of any hypothesis

[GoodTaste]

All that belongs to human understanding, in this deep ignorance and obscurity, is to be skeptical, or at least cautious; and not to admit of any hypothesis, whatsoever; much less, of any which is supported by no appearance of probability.
—David Hume

I understand "and not to admit of any hypothesis" as "and not to mention any hypothesis". Am I on the right track?

 

[5jj]

'Admit of' means something like 'allow the possibility of'.

 

[GoodTaste]

'Admit of' means something like 'allow the possibility of '.

"Not allow the possibility of any hypothesis" sounds odd and not understandable to me. That's why I guessed it means "not to mention".
Human understanding does allow such possibility. So I am afraid that I have misunderstood David Hume's grammar.

 

[Tarheel]

It's unusual phraseology.

 

[probus]

"Admit of" is archaic and perhaps obsolete. See this Ngram:

Google Books Ngram Viewer

Google Books Ngram Viewer

books.google.com

 

[Phaedrus]

All that belongs to human understanding, in this deep ignorance and obscurity, is to be skeptical, or at least cautious; and not to admit of any hypothesis, whatsoever; much less, of any which is supported by no appearance of probability.
—David Hume

I understand "and not to admit of any hypothesis" as "and not to mention any hypothesis". Am I on the right track?

I suspect that Hume's meaning here is "and not to accept (i.e., believe) any hypothesis." Consider this quote from John Locke (source), in which "admit of" is silmilarly used.

"He that, in the ordinary affairs of life, would admit of nothing but direct plain demonstration, would be sure of nothing in this world, but of perishing quickly."

 

[jutfrank]

It helps here if you know a little about Hume's philosophy. Phaedrus has it right that by 'admit', Hume means 'accept as true'.

 

[Phaedrus]

"ADMIT. When it means either 'confess' or 'allow to enter', admit is a transitive verb, and takes no preposition. Admit of means 'allow room or scope for' ('The regulations admit of no exception', 'The sentence is so ambiguously worded that it admits of two interpretations'). Admit to (a charge that has been brought against one) has recently begun to appear in print, but it is doubtful whether it can yet be considered accepted idiom (e.g. 'He refused to admit to breaking the window')."

- English Prepositional Idioms, by Frederick T. Wood, p. 102 (emphasis mine). St. Martin's Press: New York, 1967.

Hume means, then, that human understanding should remain skeptical and not allow room or scope for any hypothesis. What is it for human understanding to allow room or scope for a hypothesis? It is to accept the hypothesis, to believe it, to use it to explain things, to regard it as true, to let it have free rein in the mind. For Hume, that is to let one's understanding be corrupted, stained, defiled, etc., by the belief that one has allowed room or scope for without sufficient evidence.