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Single Idea 21294

[filed under theme 16. Persons / E. Rejecting the Self / 4. Denial of the Self ]

Full Idea

If any impression gives rise to the idea of self, that impression must continue invariably the same, through the whole course of our lives; since self is supposed to exist after that manner. But there is no impression constant and invariable.

Gist of Idea

A continuous lifelong self must be justified by a single sustained impression, which we don't have

Source

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

Book Ref

Hume,David: 'A Treatise of Human Nature', ed/tr. Selby-Bigge/Nidditch [OUP 1978], p.251

A Reaction

This is a rather dogmatic application of the requirement that all knowledge must be founded in experience. It fails to recognise that knowledge of the thing having the experiences is a rather special case. We must ask for the best explanation.

The 24 ideas with the same theme [denial that there is any such thing as a 'Self']:

5517 Individuals don't exist, but are conventional names for sets of elements [Buddha]
7277 The perfect man has no self [Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu)]
7286 To see with true clarity, your self must be irrelevant [Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu)]
7906 When the Buddha reached the highest level of insight, he could detect no self in the world [Ashvaghosha]
21294 A continuous lifelong self must be justified by a single sustained impression, which we don't have [Hume]
21295 When I introspect I can only observe my perceptions, and never a self which has them [Hume]
21298 We pretend our perceptions are continuous, and imagine a self to fill the gaps [Hume]
21304 Identity in the mind is a fiction, like that fiction that plants and animals stay the same [Hume]
21308 We have no impression of the self, and we therefore have no idea of it [Hume]
21310 Does an oyster with one perception have a self? Would lots of perceptions change that? [Hume]
4175 It is as perverse to resent our individuality being replaced by others, as to resent the body renewing itself [Schopenhauer]
24099 We contain many minds, which fight for the 'I' of the mind [Nietzsche]
7148 The 'I' is a conceptual synthesis, not the governor of our being [Nietzsche]
7138 The 'I' is a fiction used to make the world of becoming 'knowable' [Nietzsche]
4527 Perhaps we are not single subjects, but a multiplicity of 'cells', interacting to create thought [Nietzsche]
6475 In perception, the self is just a logical fiction demanded by grammar [Russell]
20114 Everyone is other, and no one is himself [Heidegger]
23498 The modern idea of the subjective soul is composite, and impossible [Wittgenstein]
7115 Maybe it is the act of reflection that brings 'me' into existence [Sartre]
7121 The Ego only appears to reflection, so it is cut off from the World [Sartre]
7370 The brain is controlled by shifting coalitions, guided by good purposeful habits [Dennett]
7655 The work done by the 'homunculus in the theatre' must be spread amongst non-conscious agencies [Dennett]
5518 It doesn't matter whether I exist with half my components replaced (any more than an audio system) [Parfit]
5349 For Buddhists a fixed self is a morally dangerous illusion [Flanagan]