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Full Idea
A Humean cannot step in the same river twice, not because the river is always a different river, but because he can strictly have no such concept as 'river'.
Gist of Idea
Humeans cannot step in the same river twice, because they cannot strictly form the concept of 'river'
Source
Harré,R./Madden,E.H. (Causal Powers [1975], 4.II)
Book Ref
Harré,R/Madden,E.H.: 'Causal Powers: A Theory of Natural Necessity' [Blackwell 1975], p.75
A Reaction
This arises from a discussion of induction. What is a Humean to make of an object which keeps changing? They only have connected impressions, and no underlying essence to hold the impressions together.
| 11091 | You can bathe in the same river twice, but not in the same river stage [Quine on Heraclitus] |
| 427 | It is not possible to step twice into the same river [Heraclitus] |
| 579 | Cratylus said you couldn't even step into the same river once [Cratylus, by Aristotle] |
| 16793 | A thing is (less properly) the same over time if each part is succeeded by another [Buridan] |
| 17257 | It is the same river if it has the same source, no matter what flows in it [Hobbes] |
| 21303 | We accept the identity of a river through change, because it is the river's nature [Hume] |
| 15256 | Humeans cannot step in the same river twice, because they cannot strictly form the concept of 'river' [Harré/Madden] |
| 3351 | One can step into the same river twice, but not into the same water [Benardete,JA] |
| 21632 | A river is not just event; it needs actual and counterfactual boundaries [Williamson] |