Full Idea
The limited theories of Berkeley and Hume have to be reductive, because they have to explain intentionality in terms of some kind of relation between sense-data; this predicament gives rise to the associationist accounts of psychology and meaning.
Gist of Idea
Associationism results from having to explain intentionality just with sense-data
Source
comment on David Hume (Treatise of Human Nature [1739]) by Howard Robinson - Perception 1.4
Book Reference
Robinson,Howard: 'Perception' [Routledge 2001], p.14
A Reaction
An illuminating explanation. Robinson seems to be implying that we should accept something like Searle's 'intrinsic' intentionality as basic, rather than intentionality built up from smaller components as Hume and Dennett suggest.