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