Single Idea 22763

[catalogued under 18. Thought / D. Concepts / 2. Origin of Concepts / b. Empirical concepts]

Full Idea

He who in his sleep dreams of a winged man does not dream so without having seen some winged thing and a man. And in general it is impossible to find in conception anything which one does not possess as known by experience.

Gist of Idea

We can only dream of a winged man if we have experienced men and some winged thing

Source

Sextus Empiricus (Against the Logicians (two books) [c.180], II.058)

Book Reference

Sextus Empiricus: 'Against the Logicians', ed/tr. Bury,R.G. [Harvard Loeb 1997], p.267


A Reaction

This precisely David Hume's empiricist account of the formation of concepts. Hume's example is a golden mountain, which he got from Aquinas. How do we dream of faces we have never encountered, or shapes we have never seen?

Related Idea

Idea 2183 We can only invent a golden mountain by combining experiences [Hume]