56 pages • 1 hour read
A Treatise of Human Nature
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Index of Terms
Analogy
In philosophical terms, an analogy is a comparison between two objects or two categories of objects. For example, one can form an analogy between a school and a hospital, since they are both institutional buildings.
Belief
For David Hume, a belief is simply a particularly vivid idea (237), although he admits that he is not certain how a belief becomes distinct from other ideas.
Cause
Hume defines a cause as an idea that is closely related to another (220), like heat being related to a flame.
General Rules
General rules are Hume’s term for the assumptions we always follow based on our social conditioning or our past experience. These general rules can be based on false information, however, as in the case of prejudice (197).
Ideas
Along with impressions, ideas are one of the two types of human perceptions. Ideas are the “faint images” (49) we have in our mind based on the impressions we gained through our bodily senses.
Impressions
Impressions are the perceptions we gain from our five senses like touch, hearing, and smell. These form the basis of our ideas (49).
Liberty
In Hume’s terms, liberty is the basic freedom of an individual to choose to act or not (447-48).
Necessity
In contrast to absolute liberty, necessity is the influence that our ideas and the relations between those ideas have on our actions (450-55).
Passions
Passions are Hume’s term for the emotions, especially the violent emotions, such as love, grief, pride, and humility (327).
Reason
Hume defines reason as “the discovery of truth or falsehood” (510) achieved through philosophical and other kinds of intellectual work.
Relations
Relations are the connections we form between ideas in our imagination. Examples of these types of relations include resemblance, cause and effect, and contiguity in time and space (58).
Sympathy
Hume defines sympathy as the capacity for individuals to compare themselves to, and share beliefs with, other people (367).
Will
The will is described by Hume as “the internal impression we feel and are conscious of, when we knowingly give rise to any new motion of our body, or new perception of our mind” (447). In other words, the will is our ability to react when we receive new information or experiences.
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