Hume in the treatise was proud of his view of belief. David hume, true to his extreme skepticism, rejects the notion of identity over time. Discussion of the views hume put forward on personal identity in the. The objects of the mind vary along a single dimension of force and vivacity. Hume on identity and personal identity 1979 australasian journal of philosophy. The perception of self is a subjective interpretation of reality and is necessarily colored by the subjects own preconceived notions. It seems even more striking that hume s account of self in books 2 and 3 of the treatise has less scope for distinguishing persons from human. Humes theory as described above seems easy to follow and very appealing, but humes contribution to personal identity is generally not as popular as it deserves. Of personal identity david hume there are some philosophers who imagine we are every moment intimately. Terms in this set 30 many philosophers think they possess a self 299.
It is a widely held view among philosophers that humes doctrine of personal identity is seriously mistaken, that he makes claims about the existence and nature of personal identity that are clearly false. Person is a forensick term appropriating actions and their merit. Locke but once memory has done its work, then our personal identity can be extended even to times forgotten. Hume on personal identity oxford academic journals. Pdf based on previous thinkers such as john locke, the scottish philosopher david hume developed his own theory of personal identity, one that is. One of the problems with this discussion, that penelhum also remarks upon hume on personal identity, pp. A question of humes theory of personal identity the. Locke and hume on personal identity locke and hume both discuss the idea of personal identity in connection with certain general claims about the very idea of identity in a more general sense and i am going to begin, prior to discussing personal identity in particular, with a comparison of their specific treatments of the general idea of identity. Humes account is also explained by reference to earlier theories such as those.
Locke on personal identity stanford encyclopedia of. The most discussed eighteenthcentury account of personal identity is that of david hume who influenced both sulzer and merian. Humes thoughts about personal identity try to first trace and consecutively explain psychological processes such as beliefs, sentiments, etc. Introduction the problems of personal identity the persistence question the population question the personal ontology question the question of what matters in identity the persistence question. In the previous section, he has rejected the ancient philosophys posit of a mental substance, or soul, in which the perceptions of the mind are said to inhere, and has argued that, in fact, each perception fits the definition of substance as something which may exist by itself. It seems even more striking that humes account of self in books 2 and 3 of the treatise has less scope for distinguishing persons from human. Turning now to humes theory of personal identity, we begin by noting that it is an outgrowth of his overall epistemology. Apr 23, 2012 hume s view of what constitutes personal identity rests heavily upon his preceding theories concerning the nature of ideas and causation. These are the sources and citations used to research hume personal identity. In the third paralogism, immanuel kant either addresses directly or gives hints of his views on personal identity, on the moral implications of such identity, and on the problem of other minds. He believed as we say nowadays, that his analysis of the concept of personal identity was correct. This textbased pdf or ebook was created from the html version of this book and is part of the portable library of liberty. Humes theory of the self and its identity dialogue.
Of personal identity david hume there are some philosophers who imagine we are every moment intimately conscious of what we call our self. This paper considers humes account of personal identity in his treatise of human nature. The origin of our ideas all the perceptions of the human mind fall into two distinct kinds, which i shall call impressions and ideas. Personal identity stanford encyclopedia of philosophy.
Hume s positive theory of personal identity 151 various causes which produce these passions. It demonstrates that, construed outside the context of this account, kant. We now proceed to explain the nature of personal identity, which has become so great a question in philosophy, especially of late years in england, where all the abstruser sciences are studyd with a peculiar ardour and application. Yet it is striking that hume does not emphasize lockes distinction between persons and human beings. Pdf hume on personal identity nicko miranda academia. Hume and the belief in personal identity oxford scholarship. Distinction between human beings and persons we need to clarify what we mean by the term person. At the opening of the treatise, ideas and impressions are distinguished by their degrees of vivacity. This act of the mind has never yet been explaind by. Personal identity and the skeptical system of philosophy.
The section concerning personal identity to which humes appendix refersthn 1. For my part, when i enter most intimately into what i call myself, i always stumble on some particular perception or other, of heat or cold, light or shade, love or hatred, pain or pleasure. In what follows i will argue that humes unpopularity is partly due to the fact that the theory is at odds with how we normally view identity, and partly due to the ambiguity of. Introduction the problems of personal identity the persistence question the population question the personalontology question the question of what matters in identity the persistence question. Hume personal identity political science bibliographies in harvard style. Nov 02, 2015 hume s theory of personal identity is developed in response to lockes account of personal identity. This bibliography was generated on cite this for me on tuesday, may 2, 2017.
This relation i here consider as applyd in its strictest sense to constant and unchangeable objects. Hume rejects a common philosophical view of the self. Treatise generally proceeds on the assumption that it was his object to justify ascriptions of. David hume on personal identity a treatise concerning human nature 1739. Identity may be esteemd a second species of relation. For, he thought, when we encounter several different things existing in succession and differing gradually, one from the next, this resemblance is the cause of the confusion and mistake, and makes us substitute the notion of identity. Hume thought that this tendency goes a long way towards explaining mistaken views about personal identity. The strongest sensation, the most violent passion, say they, instead of. This idea can be formulated as the following argument. Memory is essential to personal identity, as it is memory which allows us the impression of a continuity of perceptions, and so in turn, the idea of cause and effect. People, we think, go through, persist through, all sorts of. Ebook or pdf edited book email encyclopedia article govt.
Hume s theory of the self and its identity it is a widely held view among philosophers that hume s doctrine of personal identity is seriously mistaken, that he makes claims about the existence and nature of personal identity that are clearly false. Rethinking humes second thoughts about personal identity. Hume personal identity political science bibliographies. These differ in the degrees of force and liveliness with which they. Humes views on personal identity are not difficult to summarize.
In this paper i will summarize my examination of the first two topic areas only. Humes positive theory of personal identity 151 various causes which produce these passions. David hume believed that while people may have notions of some unchanging personal characteristics embedded within themselves, people have actually mistaken their perceptions of themselves as the genuine article. Of personal identity may be conveniently divided into three main subsections. Lockes most thorough discussion of the persistence or diachronic identity of persons can be found in book 2, chapter 27 of the essay of identity and diversity, though locke anticipates this discussion as early as book 1, chapter 4, section 5, and locke refers to persons in other texts, including the second treatise of government.
This chapter examines how the argument may fit into kants general account of the paralogistic reasoning of rational psychology. And here tis evident, the same method of reasoning must be continud. Humes account of personal identity does not satisfy philosophers dreams about perfect identity. Rightly or wrongly, i take the view, with hume, that ones own identity. To understand humes account of personal identity one must, as hume says, take the. Hume on identity over time and persons phil 20208 je. This chapter begins with a close analysis of the relevant sections in book i of the treatise of human nature and humes famous second thoughts on identity in the appendix to book iii. The strongest statement of this view is to be found in terence penelhums hume on personal identity.
Ideas, their origin, composition, connection, abstraction, etc. Personal identity in memento plato philosophy learning. Hume delivers his account of personal identity in treatise 1. Regarding the issue of personal identity, 1 humes skeptical claim is that we have no experience of a simple, individual impression that we can call the selfwhere the self is the totality of a persons conscious life. Defending humes theory of personal identity and discarding. Pdf on jan 1, 1992, shaun gallagher and others published gallagher, s.
A dialogue by derek parfit and godfrey vesey pair this with your analysis on momento. In vce philosophy lockes theory of personal identity is a key component of area of study 2, so its important you get a good understanding of the theory. Oct 03, 2006 hume thought that this tendency goes a long way towards explaining mistaken views about personal identity. David hume, a treatise of human nature by david hume. Sophiaomni 1 of personal identity david hume there are some philosophers who imagine we are every moment intimately conscious of what we call our self. Steve and walter used to have a preference for blondes. Hume s account of personal identity does not satisfy philosophers dreams about perfect identity. What is the mind, self, or person to which identity and simplicity are attributed. Humes theory of the self and its identity it is a widely held view among philosophers that humes doctrine of personal identity is seriously mistaken, that he makes claims about the existence and nature of personal identity that are clearly false. From hume to derrida find, read and cite all the research you need on researchgate. For my part, when i enter most intimately into what i call myself, i always. The most important preceding ideas to take into account are the rejection of causality and necessary connection and his strict empiric stance on the basis of knowledge and the only two types of perception being ideas that are reliant on initial impressions. The strongest statement of this view is to be found in terence penelhums hume on personal. Humes view of what constitutes personal identity rests heavily upon his preceding theories concerning the nature of ideas and causation.
Rethinking humes second thoughts about personal identity may. Lets say that leonards ability to remember is not impaired and that his memories have been duplicated in another body. Summary david hume of personal identity flashcards. Derek parfits bold reply to the duplication problem suggests the possibility of survival without personal identity. Hume, belief and personal identity justin broackes semantic scholar. Treatise of human nature, book 1 early modern texts. There are some philosophers who imagine we are every moment intimately conscious of what we call our self. Flash cards for arguments and evaluations relating to david hume s of personal identity reading for vce philosophy unit 3, 2014. Humes theory of personal identity is developed in response to lockes account of personal identity.
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