Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects ...: Essays, moral, political, and literary |
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Common terms and phrases
able according actions advantage agreeable allowed appear argument arifes authority beauty becauſe believe body carry caufe cauſe character circumftances common concerning conduct confequences confider connexion contrary defire deity determined divine doubt effect entirely equal evident examine excite expect experience fact fame fays feel feems fenfes fentiment fhall fhould fociety follow fome force former ftill fubject fuch fufficient fuppofed give greater himſelf human idea imagination immediately infer influence inftance intereft itſelf juſtice kind laws lively mankind manner matter means merit mind miracle moft moral moſt muft muſt nature never obferve object operation opinion oppofite origin paffions particular perfect perfon perhaps philofophers pleaſure prefent principles produce prove qualities reaſon reflection regard relation religion render rules thefe themſelves theſe thing thofe thoſe thought tion uſeful virtue whole
Popular passages
Page 81 - It appears that, in single instances of the operation of bodies, we never can, by our utmost scrutiny, discover any thing but one event following another, without being able to comprehend any force or power by which the cause operates, or any connexion between it and its supposed effect.
Page 124 - ... person should either deceive or be deceived, or that the fact, which he relates, should really have happened. I weigh the one miracle against the other; and according to the superiority which I discover, I pronounce my decision, and always reject the greater miracle. If the falsehood of his testimony would be more miraculous than the event which he relates; then, and not till then, can he pretend to command my belief or opinion.
Page 125 - ... and learning, as to secure us against all delusion in themselves ; of such undoubted integrity as to place them beyond all suspicion of any design to deceive others ; of such credit and reputation in the eyes of mankind as to have a great deal to lose in case of...
Page 78 - Maker which excites such a sensation in consequence of such a motion in the organ. In like manner, it is not any energy in the will that produces local motion in our members: It is God himself, who is pleased to second our will, in itself impotent, and to command that motion which we erroneously attribute to our own power and efficacy.
Page 165 - By what argument can it be proved, that the perceptions of the mind must be caused by external objects, entirely different from them, though resembling them (if that be possible), and could not arise either from the energy of the mind itself, or from the suggestion of some invisible and unknown spirit, or from some other cause still more unknown to us...
Page 137 - Upon the whole, then, it appears that no testimony for any kind of miracle has ever amounted to a probability, much less to a proof; and that, even supposing it amounted to a proof, it would be opposed by another proof derived from the very nature of the fact which it would...
Page 13 - ... of these belongs alone to the mind and will, or, to express myself in philosophical language, all our ideas or more feeble perceptions are copies of our impressions or more lively ones. To prove this, the two following arguments will, I hope, be sufficient.
Page 41 - ... support. For otherwise we could infer these secret powers from the first appearance of these sensible qualities without the aid of experience, contrary to the sentiment of all philosophers and contrary to plain matter of fact. Here, then, is our natural state of ignorance with regard to the powers and influence of all objects. How is this remedied by experience?
Page 96 - A prisoner who has neither money nor interest, discovers the impossibility of his escape, as well when he considers the obstinacy of the gaoler, as the walls and bars with which he is surrounded; and, in all attempts for his freedom, chooses rather to work upon the stone and iron of the one, than upon the inflexible nature of the other.
Page 41 - Nothing so like as eggs ; yet no one, on account of this appearing similarity, expects the same taste and relish in all of them. It is only after a long course of uniform experiments in any kind, that we attain a firm reliance and security with regard to a particular event.
Bibliographic information
| Title | Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects ...: Essays, moral, political, and literary Volume 1 of Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects, David Hume |
| Author | David Hume |
| Publisher | A. Millar, 1764 |
| Original from | Oxford University |
| Digitized | 11 Jul 2007 |
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