Ideas from 'Treatise of Human Nature' by David Hume [1739], by Theme Structure
[found in 'A Treatise of Human Nature' by Hume,David (ed/tr Mossner,Ernest C.) [Penguin 1969,0-14-040007-9]].
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2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 7. Status of Reason
3807
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Reason is and ought to be the slave of the passions
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6. Mathematics / B. Foundations for Mathematics / 5. Definitions of Number / d. Hume's Principle
8649
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Two numbers are equal if all of their units correspond to one another
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7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 2. Types of Existence
21291
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There is no medium state between existence and non-existence
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8. Modes of Existence / C. Powers and Dispositions / 1. Powers
11942
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Power is the possibility of action, as discovered by experience
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11949
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There may well be powers in things, with which we are quite unacquainted
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8. Modes of Existence / C. Powers and Dispositions / 7. Against Powers
11950
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We have no idea of powers, because we have no impressions of them
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11941
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The distinction between a power and its exercise is entirely frivolous
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8. Modes of Existence / E. Nominalism / 2. Resemblance Nominalism
11098
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Momentary impressions are wrongly identified with one another on the basis of resemblance [Quine]
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7954
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If we see a resemblance among objects, we apply the same name to them, despite their differences
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9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 5. Individuation / a. Individuation
21293
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Individuation is only seeing that a thing is stable and continuous over time
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9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 2. Substance / e. Substance critique
12048
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The only meaning we have for substance is a collection of qualities
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13424
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Aristotelians propose accidents supported by substance, but they don't understand either of them
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9. Objects / E. Objects over Time / 1. Objects over Time
21300
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A change more obviously destroys an identity if it is quick and observed
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21299
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Changing a part can change the whole, not absolutely, but by its proportion of the whole
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9. Objects / E. Objects over Time / 2. Objects that Change
1321
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If identity survives change or interruption, then resemblance, contiguity or causation must unite the parts of it
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1330
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If a republic can retain identity through many changes, so can an individual
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9. Objects / E. Objects over Time / 7. Intermittent Objects
21302
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If a ruined church is rebuilt, its relation to its parish makes it the same church
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9. Objects / E. Objects over Time / 8. Continuity of Rivers
21303
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We accept the identity of a river through change, because it is the river's nature
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9. Objects / E. Objects over Time / 9. Ship of Theseus
21301
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The purpose of the ship makes it the same one through all variations
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9. Objects / F. Identity among Objects / 1. Concept of Identity
1207
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Both number and unity are incompatible with the relation of identity
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21290
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Multiple objects cannot convey identity, because we see them as different
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9. Objects / F. Identity among Objects / 5. Self-Identity
21289
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'An object is the same with itself' is meaningless; it expresses unity, not identity
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21292
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Saying an object is the same with itself is only meaningful over a period of time
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10. Modality / A. Necessity / 10. Impossibility
9428
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Nothing we clearly imagine is absolutely impossible
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10. Modality / A. Necessity / 11. Denial of Necessity
4766
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Necessity only exists in the mind, and not in objects
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11. Knowledge Aims / C. Knowing Reality / 1. Perceptual Realism / c. Representative realism
6526
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Hume says objects are not a construction, but an imaginative leap [Robinson,H]
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12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 2. Associationism
6489
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Associationism results from having to explain intentionality just with sense-data [Robinson,H]
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12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 5. Empiricism Critique
6182
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Even Hume didn't include mathematics in his empiricism [Kant]
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13. Knowledge Criteria / C. External Justification / 8. Social Justification
12417
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Mathematicians only accept their own proofs when everyone confims them
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13. Knowledge Criteria / D. Scepticism / 2. Types of Scepticism
5548
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Hume became a total sceptic, because he believed that reason was a deception [Kant]
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14. Science / C. Induction / 1. Induction
7446
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The idea of inductive evidence, around 1660, made Hume's problem possible [Hacking]
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15. Nature of Minds / C. Capacities of Minds / 2. Imagination
21806
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Memory, senses and understanding are all founded on the imagination
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16. Persons / B. Nature of the Self / 5. Self as Associations
3819
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Hume's 'bundle' won't distinguish one mind with ten experiences from ten minds [Searle]
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1317
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A person is just a fast-moving bundle of perceptions
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1331
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The parts of a person are always linked together by causation
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1388
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Hume gives us an interesting sketchy causal theory of personal identity [Perry]
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21297
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A person is simply a bundle of continually fluctuating perceptions
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16. Persons / C. Self-Awareness / 3. Limits of Introspection
1316
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Introspection always discovers perceptions, and never a Self without perceptions
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16. Persons / D. Continuity of the Self / 2. Mental Continuity / a. Memory is Self
1333
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Memory only reveals personal identity, by showing cause and effect
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1332
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We use memory to infer personal actions we have since forgotten
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21305
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Memory not only reveals identity, but creates it, by producing resemblances
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21307
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Who thinks that because you have forgotten an incident you are no longer that person?
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16. Persons / D. Continuity of the Self / 2. Mental Continuity / b. Self as mental continuity
21306
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Causation unites our perceptions, by producing, destroying and modifying each other
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16. Persons / E. Rejecting the Self / 4. Denial of the Self
21294
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A continuous lifelong self must be justified by a single sustained impression, which we don't have
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21295
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When I introspect I can only observe my perceptions, and never a self which has them
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21298
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We pretend our perceptions are continuous, and imagine a self to fill the gaps
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21304
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Identity in the mind is a fiction, like that fiction that plants and animals stay the same
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20. Action / A. Definition of Action / 2. Duration of an Action
20030
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If one event causes another, the two events must be wholly distinct [Wilson/Schpall]
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20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 3. Acting on Reason / a. Practical reason
6692
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For Hume, practical reason has little force, because we can always modify our desires [Graham]
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20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 3. Acting on Reason / b. Intellectualism
8257
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Reason alone can never be a motive to any action of the will
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20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 4. Responsibility for Actions
22374
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You can only hold people responsible for actions which arise out of their character
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22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / h. Expressivism
22382
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We cannot discover vice by studying a wilful murder; that only arises from our own feelings
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22. Metaethics / B. Value / 1. Nature of Value / b. Fact and value
4008
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Modern science has destroyed the Platonic synthesis of scientific explanation and morality [Taylor,C]
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8067
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The problem of getting to 'ought' from 'is' would also apply in getting to 'owes' or 'needs' [Anscombe]
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4578
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You can't move from 'is' to 'ought' without giving some explanation or reason for the deduction
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22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / i. Self-interest
3650
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Total selfishness is not irrational
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26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 7. Later Matter Theories / a. Early Modern matter
14301
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We have no good concept of solidity or matter, because accounts of them are all circular
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26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 8. Particular Causation / c. Conditions of causation
8382
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For Hume a constant conjunction is both necessary and sufficient for causation [Crane]
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26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 9. General Causation / d. Causal necessity
19274
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Hume seems to presuppose necessary connections between mental events [Kripke]
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29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 2. Immortality / a. Immortality
21296
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If all of my perceptions were removed by death, nothing more is needed for total annihilation
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