Single Idea 21297

[catalogued under 16. Persons / B. Nature of the Self / 5. Self as Associations]

Full Idea

[People] are nothing but a bundle or collection of different perceptions, which succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidity, and are in a continual flux and movement.

Gist of Idea

A person is simply a bundle of continually fluctuating perceptions

Source

David Hume (Treatise of Human Nature [1739], I.IV.6)

Book Reference

Hume,David: 'A Treatise of Human Nature', ed/tr. Selby-Bigge/Nidditch [OUP 1978], p.252


A Reaction

Nowadays we must say that this misses the huge non-conscious aspect of what a person is. He seems to see all mental events as equal. Isn't the experience of deciding to focus on this sentence more 'central' than awareness of your feet?