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Why does Hume consider some attempts to justify induction circular?

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Marble bust of Aristotle with a beard and draped robe, showing detailed facial features and wavy hair, set against a dark background. — Philosophy of science Aristotle, marble portrait bust, Roman copy (2nd century bce) of a Greek original (c. 325 bce); in the Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome.

David Hume argues that attempts to justify induction—the inference from observed instances to unobserved ones—are circular because they rely on the unproven assumption that the future will resemble the past.1

When individuals attempt to justify this belief, they often point to the past uniformity of nature, arguing that because nature has been uniform previously, it will continue to be so in the future. However, this reasoning is inherently circular: it attempts to prove that the future will resemble the past by assuming that the future will resemble the past.1

Hume maintains that this principle cannot be established through reason or evidence, as there is no logical necessity that the future must conform to past experience. Consequently, while humans naturally form these beliefs through habit and custom, Hume concludes that such inductive inferences are rationally unjustified.12