"But notwithstanding the empire of the imagination, there is a secret tie or union among particular ideas, which causes the mind to conjoin them more frequently together, and makes the one, upon its appearance, introduce the other."
— Hume, David (1711-1776)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for C. Borbet
Date
1740
Metaphor
"But notwithstanding the empire of the imagination, there is a secret tie or union among particular ideas, which causes the mind to conjoin them more frequently together, and makes the one, upon its appearance, introduce the other."
Metaphor in Context
Thro' this whole book, there are great pretensions to new discoveries in philosophy; but if any thing can intitle the author to so glorious a name as that of an inventor, 'tis the use he makes of the principle of the association of ideas, which enters into most of his philosophy. Our imagination has a great authority over our ideas; and there are no ideas that are different from each other, which it cannot separate, and join, and compose into all the varieties of fiction. But notwithstanding the empire of the imagination, there is a secret tie or union among particular ideas, which causes the mind to conjoin them more frequently together, and makes the one, upon its appearance, introduce the other. Hence arises what we call the apropos of discourse: hence the connection of writing: and hence that thread, or chain of thought, which a man naturally supports even in the loosest reverie. These principles of association are reduced to three, viz. Resemblance; a picture naturally makes us think of the man it was drawn for. Contiguity; when St. Denis is mentioned, the idea of Paris naturally occurs. Causation; when we think of the son, we are apt to carry our attention to the father. 'Twill be easy to conceive of what vast consequence these principles must be in the science of human nature, if we consider, that so far as regards the mind, these are the only links that bind the parts of the universe together, or connect us with any person or object exterior to ourselves. For as it is by means of thought only that any thing operates upon our passions, and as these are the only ties of our thoughts, they are really to us the cement of the universe, and all the operations of the mind must, in a great measure, depend on them.
(cf. pp. 416-7 in Norton, p. 31-2 in 1740 ed.)
(cf. pp. 416-7 in Norton, p. 31-2 in 1740 ed.)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "empire" in Past Masters; confirmed in ECCO-TCP.
Citation
Only 1 entry in ESTC (1740).
An Abstract of a Book Lately Published; Entituled, a Treatise of Human Nature, &c. Wherein the Chief Argument of That Book Is Farther Illustrated and Explained. (London: Printed for C. Borbet [sic], at Addison's Head, over-against St. Dunstan's church, in Fleet-street, 1740).<Link to ESTC>
Reading Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature ed. David Fate Norton and Mary J. Norton (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2000).
An Abstract of a Book Lately Published; Entituled, a Treatise of Human Nature, &c. Wherein the Chief Argument of That Book Is Farther Illustrated and Explained. (London: Printed for C. Borbet [sic], at Addison's Head, over-against St. Dunstan's church, in Fleet-street, 1740).<Link to ESTC>
Reading Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature ed. David Fate Norton and Mary J. Norton (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2000).
Date of Entry
06/03/2010
Date of Review
07/25/2011
