Map · Book 1: Of the Understanding · Part 4: Of the Sceptical and other systems of philosophy · T 1.4.2 Of scepticism with regard to the senses
T 1.4.2.52
SBN 214-6 · cited directly by 5 papers, reached by 13 more through page or section ranges
But tho' our natural and obvious principles here prevail |above our study'd reflections, 'tis certain there must be some struggle and opposition in the case; at least so long as these reflections retain any force or vivacity. In order to set ourselves at ease in this particular, we contrive a new hypothesis, which seems to comprehend both these principles of reason and imagination. This hypothesis is the philosophical one of the double existence of perceptions and objects; which pleases our reason, in allowing, that our dependent perceptions are interrupted and different; and at the same time is agreeable to the imagination, in attributing a continu'd existence to something else, which we call objects. This philosophical system, therefore, is the monstrous offspring of two principles, which are contrary to each other, which are both at once embrac'd by the mind, and which are unable mutually to destroy each other. The imagination tells us, that our resembling perceptions have a continu'd and uninterrupted existence, and are not annihilated by their absence. Reflection tells us, that even our resembling perceptions are interrupted in their existence, and different from each other. The contradiction betwixt these opinions we elude by a new fiction, which is conformable to the hypotheses both of reflection and fancy, by ascribing these contrary qualities to different existences; the interruption to perceptions, and the continuance to objects. Nature is obstinate, and will not quit the field, however strongly attack'd by reason; and at the same time reason is so clear in the point, that there is no possibility of disguising her. Not being able to reconcile these two enemies, we endeavour to set ourselves at ease as much as possible, by successively granting to each whatever it demands, and by feigning a double existence, where each may find something, that has all the conditions it desires. Were we fully convinc'd, that our resembling perceptions are continu'd, and identical, and independent, we shou'd never run into this opinion of a double existence; since we shou'd find satisfaction in our first supposition, and wou'd not look beyond. Again, were we fully convinc'd, |that our perceptions are dependent, and interrupted, and different, we shou'd be as little inclin'd to embrace the opinion of a double existence; since in that case we shou'd clearly perceive the error of our first supposition of a continu'd existence, and wou'd never regard it any farther. 'Tis therefore from the intermediate situation of the mind, that this opinion arises, and from such an adherence to these two contrary principles, as makes us seek some pretext to justify our receiving both; which happily at last is found in the system of a double existence.
Who cites it
5 of 18 papers cite this paragraph directly; the rest reach it through a page or section range. Snippets are the words around each citation.
| Paper | Cited as | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Roth 2000 | I.iv.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …rson or mind, identical' through time. 12 See 'Of Scepticism with Regard to the Senses' (I.iv.2) and 'Of the Ancien… |
| I.iv.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …s.. .(T217-18, my emphasis) In sum, Hume's discussion of object identity in the sections I.iv.2 and I.iv.3 of the T… | |
| (T215) this paragraph Citation pattern | …e, and characterizing it as the monstrous offspring of the imagination and bad philosophy (T215).22 The second assu… | |
| I.iv.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …would have supposed should have found their way into his earlier discussion of objects in I.iv.2 and I.iv.3. This ne… | |
| Ainslie 2003 | SBN 216 T 1.4.2 (3 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …7.14, SBN 273) 'leaves [his] closet, [and] mingles with the rest of mankind' (T 1.4.2.53, SBN 216), he will take with… |
| T 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …cognize that it goes to the heart of his explanation of our belief in external objects in T 1.4.2 and 1.4.3, and so h… | |
| Loeb 2009 | (T pp. 215, 218) T 1.4.2 (3 paragraphs) Citation pattern | … the double existence of perceptions and objects?'monstrous', 'loaded with ... absurdity' (T pp. 215, 218). Indeed. The vulgar… |
| I.iv.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …hesis that there are 'contradictions ... in every system concerning external objects'?per I.iv.2, 'and in the idea o… | |
| I.iv.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …, so that the inconsistency surfaces, without Hume taking any note of it, at the heart of I.iv.2. Any whiff of contr… | |
| Rocknak 2012 focused | 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …art system and the philosophical position (where, recall, both are initially presented in 1.4.2, and to some degree… |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | … indeed have an idea of ourselves ( contra Robison 1974 ) . ## 3.1 A Return to 1.3.2 and 1.4.2 Not surprisingly, … | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …6.15; SBN 259). Thus, it is reasonable to view 1.4.6 as a return to 1.3.2.2; SBN 73-4 and 1.4.2, where, recall, Hum… | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …t, thanks to transcendental machinery, admits of a perfect identity-which, he explains in 1.4.2, is not to be confu… | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | ….4.6 seems to rely heavily on what Hume has already established in 1.3.2.2; SBN 74 and in 1.4.2, both in regard to … | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …y." Immediately, Hume's account of the principle of individuation, presented in part 1 of 1.4.2's four part system,… | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …erous]" as "time" remains constant ( T 1.4.2.29; SBN 201). Accordingly, Hume concludes in 1.4.2 that: "Here then is… | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …201). Thus, given the conceptual similarities, I think that we must conclude that he has 1.4.2's principle of indi… | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …each other. Once again, these remarks bear a striking resemblance to certain passages in 1.4.2, but now we see tha… | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …ained above, he seems to be thinking of the notion of perfect identity given in Part I of 1.4.2's system, i.e. the … | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | ….4.6, similar "feelings" play exactly the same role that similar "dispositions" played in 1.4.2 in regard to vulgar… | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …he two "feelings" that the imagination respectively places us in. For, as was the case in 1.4.2, the imagination is… | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …ssed at length in Chap. 8 (again, recall Fig. 8.1). Moreover, exactly as was the case in 1.4.2, Hume reminds us in… | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …nd, Hume adds here, invariable and variable, a contradiction that he does not focus on in 1.4.2. In 1.4.2, we saw … | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …ds here, invariable and variable, a contradiction that he does not focus on in 1.4.2. In 1.4.2, we saw that while … | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …ing perceptions. In turn, we imagine an unperceived impression, or what Hume refers to in 1.4.2 as a "continu'd and… | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …urselves this absurdity," we don't make the same mistake. Rather, just as was the case in 1.4.2, we (the vulgar) "o… | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | … " self ." Immediately following, and also entirely consistent with the account given in 1.4.2, Hume reminds us th… | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …tollens that, as was explained in Chap. 9 , is used to repudiate vulgar perspective II in 1.4.2. Rather, he seems t… | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …5; SBN 253). To make his case, we saw that Hume revisits much of the ground he covered in 1.4.2, particularly parts… | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | … of the Vulgar v. the Philosophical Perspective Immediately after revisiting the bulk of 1.4.2's four-part system,… | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | … explained by the principle of individuation, i.e. the account given in part 1 of Hume's 1.4.2 system, as well as … | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …vulgar perspective I is a very real psychological phenomenon. But unlike what he says in 1.4.2, in this section of… | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …the imperfect identity" ( T 1.4.6.9; SBN 256; emphasis added). Exactly as was the case in 1.4.2, where we conceive … | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …ntity to the object. ( T 1.4.6.10; SBN 256) However, exactly as we saw to be the case in 1.4.2, vulgar perspective… | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …dividuation , which, recall, represents a transcendental process. Just as was the case in 1.4.2 in regard to his ex… | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …ssing, and does not explicitly discuss its relationship to the idea of time, as he did in 1.4.2: We may also consi… | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …Hume's earlier discussion of the "medium betwixt unity and number" discussed in part 1 of 1.4.2's system, for they … | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …lation to his general accounts of identity, particularly, the accounts given in 1.3.2 and 1.4.2, and, the preceding… | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …anic things) and any of the inorganic objects that Hume may have had in mind in 1.3.2 and 1.4.2. Having underlined … | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …4.6.21; SBN 262). Consistent with Hume's accounts of perfect identity given in 1.3.2 and 1.4.2 8 (regardless if it… | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …are ever discoverable by human understanding" ( T App. 20; SBN 635). For instance, recall 1.4.2. where Hume argues … | |
| SBN 214-15 T 1.4.2 (3 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …ur perceptions (distinct existences), as the philosophers mistakenly do (e.g. T 1.4.2.52; SBN 214-15; recall Chap. 9 ). … | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …e. ## 10 Summary In this chapter we saw that: 1. Although Hume discusses variations of 1.4.2's principle of indi… | |
| Rocknak 2019 | T 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …roperty of uninterruptedness. In some places, he speaks of imagining a continuous object (T 1.4.2; 15-24; SBN 194-199… |
| SBN 215 this paragraph Citation pattern | …eption of objects is the "monstrous offspring" of reason and the imagination (T 1.4.2.52; SBN 215). Hume's first ext… | |
| SBN 209-16 T 1.4.2 (13 paragraphs) Citation pattern | … where he discusses the philosopher's rejection of the vulgar perspective (T 1.4.2.43-53; SBN 209-16). Hume's second ext… | |
| T 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …n regard to our conception of objects and 3.) "Of skepticism with regard to the senses," (T 1.4.2.2530; SBN 199-201) … | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …icism with regard to the senses," (T 1.4.2.2530; SBN 199-201) which constitutes part 1 of 1.4.2's four part system,… | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …ngeably with uninterruptedness and invariability. 18 Although Hume discusses variants of 1.4.2's principle of iden… | |
| Loeb 1992 | 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …Hume's discussion of the "constancy" (as distinct from the "coherence") of perceptions in 1.4.2, "Of scepticism wit… |
| Spector 1998 | THN 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …xception to those who separate the discussions of bodily and mental continuity. He thinks THN 1.4.2 ("Scepticism with R… |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …is aspect of the personal identity problem when he discussed bodily continuity in Book I (1.4.2), before engaging i… | |
| Flage 2004 | Treatise I.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …n synchronic identity. He examines parallels between Hume's accounts of the idea of body (Treatise I.4.2) and the idea of pe… |
| Ellis 2006 focused | T 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | … hoped in T 1.4.6 to do for the idea of the self what he had already done in T 1.3.14 and T 1.4.2 for the ideas of ca… |
| T 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …hat the kind of explanation that he of fers of this relation in the case of ob j ects (in T 1.4.2) is unavailable to … | |
| T 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …tion, Hume's worry is a general one. It would apply no less to his genetic explanation in T 1.4.2 of the idea of cont… | |
| Inukai 2007 focused | I.iv.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …ronger claim as to the nature of perceptions: perceptions are all distinct existences. In I.iv.2, Hume explains the … |
| Ainslie 2008 focused | T 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …t that suggests such a picture can be found in "Of scepticism with regard to the senses" (T 1.4.2) where Hume says th… |
| T 1.4.2, 1 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …rts of the Treatise that attempt to explain our beliefs in the unity of external objects (T 1.4.2, 1.4.3). Though the i… | |
| Ainslie 2009 | T 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …rectly (according to the processes explored in "Of scepticism with regard to the senses" [T 1.4.2]), yield an awarene… |
| Mcintyre 2009 | Treatise 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …rs of the Treatise could not be in much doubt about the broad outline of Hume's position. Treatise 1.4.2, Of scepticism with… |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …n the natural" world. Through that comment, it also refers indirectly to the arguments of 1.4.2, Of scepticism with… | |
| Treatise 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | … of the imagination lead to contradictory results. The associations of ideas described in Treatise 1.4.2 lead to belief in t… | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | … personal identity, however, reopens the problem of inconsistency. In this section, as in 1.4.2, the association of… | |
| Strawson 2011 | 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …ceswithcertainsortsofresemblan ce,constancy,andcoherencecharacteristics'(forthedetails,see1.4.2oftheT reatise).Ifon… |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …ishesitfrom{E}. -I'mnotsosure.Inhisdiscussionoftherelationbetweenperceptionsand objectsin1.4.2,Humewritesasfollows… | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …rawnoclearconclusions aboutHume'sviewsonthemetaphysicsofperceptionsfromthecomplicationsof 1.4.2(theybeginat193/1.4.… | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …tionthatphysicalobjectsmightbediffere ntfromperceptionshasbeenclassifiedasunintelligiblein1.4.2(andafterthec ausalp… | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …forcause,'S'for self).Thefirstsub-principleis [P8O]seriesofexperiencesofthekindspecifiedin1.4.2giverisetotheideaofc… | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …raceb ack(p.129)totheshiftingbetween'perception'andobject'whichHumeauthorize dforhimselfin1.4.2,andwhichIwon'ttryto… | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …tionin1.3.14oftheTreatise,andhisempiricistaccountoftheco ntentoftheideaofphysicalobjectsin1.4.2,andtooktheideaofthe… | |
| Thiel 2011 | I.iv.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …s linked to his discussion of identity in earlier sections in the Treatise, especially to I.iv.2 (ibid., pp. 189-90;… |
| I.iv.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …of both invariableness and uninterruptedness of perception, and he does this at length in I.iv.2 (ibid., pp. 201-5),… | |
| Strawson 2012 | THN 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …ty or power in the world. He uses this conception of the Principle-Governed Mind again in THN 1.4.2 / 187-218 ('Of scep… |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …attention to our idea of causation in 1.3.14 / 155-72, and our idea of external bodies in 1.4.2 / 187-218 - Hume fi… | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …himself of 'the uniting principle' (THN 1.1.4.1 / 10) that he had relied on in 1.3.14 and 1.4.2: 'the principle of … | |
| 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …reatise, and (5) his empiricist account of the content of the idea of physical objects in 1.4.2 / 187218, and took … | |
| Pitson 2013 | T 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …s of identity and diversity and a similar assumption underlies his lengthy explanation in T 1.4.2 of our belief in bo… |
| T 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …bstance (T 1.4.6.6; SBN 253-54). What Hume says here obviously echoes his explanation in T 1.4.2 of belief in the ex… | |
| T 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …rom Book 1 of the Treatise through post-Treatise writings such as the Dialogues. Thus, in T 1.4.2 we find Hume antici… | |
| Cottrell 2015 | T 1.4.2 T 1.4.2 (65 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …of identity. Let me therefore explain. For him, "identity" is just identity through time (T 1.4.2.2630; SBN 200-201).… |
| SBN 211 - 17 T 1.4.2 (13 paragraphs) Citation pattern | …ry impressions and attributes the defining properties of a body to them (T 1.4.2.46 - 55; SBN 211 - 17). He argues that th… |