David Hume’s an Enquiry Concerning the Principles of...

Hume was the first thinker to point out the implications of the quot;representative theory of perception.quot; He had inherited this theory from both his rationalist and empiricist predecessors. According to this view, when one says that he/she perceives something such as an apple, what it actually means is that the one has in the mind a mental idea or image or impression. Such a datum is an internal, mental, subjective representation of something that I assume to be an external, physical, fact. But there are, at least, two difficulties inherent in ascribing any truth to such perceptions. If truth is understood as the adequacy between the image and the object, then it is impossible to infer that there is a true world of objects since†¦show more content†¦Feeling becomes both the judge and the capacity for judgement. Sympathy, as a fundamental human feeling, becomes a moral centre. Hume says that the sympathy comes from the heart. In human nature, the heart is the lodging for the inner quality. One with sympathy is susceptible to others emotions, imbued with that important quality of fellow-feeling. The quot;heart† dictates moral principles, â€Å"for ones innate goodness allows one to take directives from ones own body.† Hume devoted the second book â€Å"Treatise† to an account of the human passions and a discussion of their role in human decision making. â€Å"It is our feelings or sentiments,† Hume claimed, â€Å"that exert practical influence over human volition and action. Observation does reveal a constant conjunction between having a motive (not a reason) for acting and performing the action in question. The notion of morals implies some sentiment common to all mankind, which recommends the same object to general approbation, and makes every man, or most men, agree in the same opinion or decision concerning it.† Reason is impossible without feeling, they are like two sides of a coin. They constantly affect each other. Hume’s analysis of human belief starts with a distinction between our mental contents. Impressions and emotions appear to be the direct and vivid products of immediate experience. Sympathy is an original impression that later create its product in the form of ideas. Being a partShow MoreRelatedEssay on Of Necessity and Liberty1702 Words   |  7 Pagesages, Philosophers have struggled with the dispute of whether human actions are performed â€Å"at liberty† or not. â€Å"It is â€Å"the most contentious question, of metaphysics, the most contentious science† (Hume 528). 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