A Treatise of Human Nature · Question
How does A Treatise of Human Nature develop the theme of Passions and the Self?
Answer
A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume develops Passions and the Self across the chapters the companion marks for this theme.
Pride, humility, love, and hatred are analyzed as passions directed at the self or others, driven by the double relation of impressions and ideas.
The chapter examines how belief influences the passions, and how passions in turn can make ideas more readily believed, as in the case of a coward's fear.
The chapter introduces the passions as a distinct class of impressions and sets the stage for exploring how they relate to the self, particularly through pride and humility.
The chapter's central focus is on pride and humility as passions that have the self as their necessary and primary object.
Evidence in the book
- Section X: Of the Influence of Belief
The chapter examines how belief influences the passions, and how passions in turn can make ideas more readily believed, as in the case of a coward's fear.
- Book II: Of the Passions
The chapter introduces the passions as a distinct class of impressions and sets the stage for exploring how they relate to the self, particularly through pride and humility.
- Part I: Of Pride and Humility
The chapter's central focus is on pride and humility as passions that have the self as their necessary and primary object.
- Section I: Division of the Subject
The chapter introduces the classification of passions into direct and indirect, setting the stage for an analysis of how passions relate to the self and to external objects.
- Section II: Of Pride and Humility, Their Objects and Causes
Pride and humility are passions that have the self as their object, and their causes are external qualities or subjects related to the self.
- Section III: Whence These Objects and Causes Are Derived
Discusses how pride and humility have self as their object, determined by an original property.
- Section IV: Of the Relations of Impressions and Ideas
The association of impressions is shown to influence the passions, as emotions naturally transition to related ones, affecting the self's experience.
- Section V: Of the Influence of These Relations on Pride and Humility
The chapter explores how pride and humility are directed at the self, and how external objects related to self influence these passions.
