Full Idea
The identity we ascribe to the mind is only a fictitious one, and of a like kind with that we ascribe to vegetable and animal bodies. It cannot therefore have a different origin, but must proceed from a like operation of the imagination upon like objects.
Gist of Idea
Identity in the mind is a fiction, like that fiction that plants and animals stay the same
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.259
A Reaction
Sustained purpose is Hume's common factor. Is the identity over time ascribed to the body of a single animal nothing more than a fiction? It is a wise ascription, compared to stupid ascriptions to gerrymandered objects.