708279
Description
The relation between impressions and ideas
- Section II. Hume sets out the general empiricist framework and method that he will use in subsequent discussions.
- PERCEPTIONS OF THE MIND.
Fundemental building blocks of
experience and thought.
Annotations:
- These features are never explicitly stated by Hume, merely implicit in the text.
- They are PRIVATE to the individual
who is experiencing them
- They are IMMEDIATE - nothing lies
between us and our perceptions.
- They are INDUBITABLE - I can doubt the cause
of my perceptions, not that I'm having them.
- Reports about them are
INCORRIGIBLE - beyond correction.
- TWO TYPES OF PERCEPTIONS OF THE MIND.
'Thought' and 'the phenomena of sense experience';
different in degree, not kind. Hume's motivation is
philosophical precision and clarity.Thinking -
consciousness of ideas, sense experience -
consciousness of impressions. Difference is of 'force
and vivacity'.
- IMPRESSIONS - the more forceful and
vivid, from sense experience. Through 1)
external senses; sight, sound etc. and 2)
inner sentiment; pain, hunger etc.
- IDEAS & COPY PRINCIPLE - faded copies of impressions. Eg. my idea of a
tree is just a faded copy of the impressions I've had of trees, in the same way
that my idea of love is just a faded copy of impressions of love. The more
impressions I have, the more ideas I have. The more impressions of particular
things, the stronger the ideas of them (though never stronger than even the
weakest impression). This is THE COPY PRINCIPLE. Distinction within ideas;
1) Simple Ideas - cannot be broken down any further, eg. blue. 2) Complex Ideas
- conglomerates of simpler ideas, eg. golden mountain/virtuous horse. This
distinction is important as it accounts for ideas that don't derive from
impressions, so allows preservation of copy principle: all simple ideas are
copies of impressions.
- IDEAS & COPY PRINCIPLE - faded copies of impressions. Eg. my idea of a
tree is just a faded copy of the impressions I've had of trees, in the same way
that my idea of love is just a faded copy of impressions of love. The more
impressions I have, the more ideas I have. The more impressions of particular
things, the stronger the ideas of them (though never stronger than even the
weakest impression). This is THE COPY PRINCIPLE. Distinction within ideas;
1) Simple Ideas - cannot be broken down any further, eg. blue. 2) Complex Ideas
- conglomerates of simpler ideas, eg. golden mountain/virtuous horse. This
distinction is important as it accounts for ideas that don't derive from
impressions, so allows preservation of copy principle: all simple ideas are
copies of impressions.
- IMPRESSIONS - the more forceful and
vivid, from sense experience. Through 1)
external senses; sight, sound etc. and 2)
inner sentiment; pain, hunger etc.
- HUME'S CHALLENGE: If you do not believe
all ideas come from impressions, then
produce an idea that can't be traced back to
an impression. Simple/complex distinction
breaks pretty much any attempt to meet this
challenge. God - comes from simpler ideas of
power, benevolence and knowledge,
multiplied.
- ARGUMENT FROM SENSE DEFICIENCY: Blind person can have no idea
of colour or a deaf person of sound. If the deficient sense is restored, they
can then form the ideas that they were previously incapable of. The reason
they lack such ideas initially is because they lack the appropriate sensory
apparatus, therefore - we cannot have ideas without impressions. Copy
principle woooo.
- ARGUMENT FROM SENSE DEFICIENCY: Blind person can have no idea
of colour or a deaf person of sound. If the deficient sense is restored, they
can then form the ideas that they were previously incapable of. The reason
they lack such ideas initially is because they lack the appropriate sensory
apparatus, therefore - we cannot have ideas without impressions. Copy
principle woooo.
- HUME'S EMPIRICAL METHOD (HUME'S MICROSCOPE):
Having established CP, microscope puts it into practice. If we
are unclear about/suspicious of a word/idea, we need to try
and trace the idea back to the impression it came from. If we
can't, then the idea should be rejected as meaningless. If it's
meaningless, there is no point arguing about it/concerning
ourselves with it.
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