Your corn is ripe today; mine will be so tomorrow. 'Tis profitable for us both, that I should labour with you today, and that you should aid me tomorrow.
David HumeRead
And as this is the obvious appearance of things, it must be admitted, till some hypothesis be discovered, which by penetrating deeper into human nature, may prove the former affections to be nothing but modifications of the latter. All attempts of this kind have hitherto proved fruitless, and seem to have proceeded entirely from that love of simplicity which has been the source of much false reasoning in philosophy.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote discusses the complexity of human emotions and the challenges in understanding them beyond simple assumptions.
In this quote, David Hume reflects on the difficulties of truly grasping human nature and emotions. He suggests that while we may perceive certain feelings as straightforward, they might actually be complex variations of deeper emotions. Hume critiques the tendency to oversimplify the understanding of emotions, cautioning that such simplifications can lead to erroneous conclusions in philosophical reasoning.
Themes
PhilosophyHuman NatureEmotionsComplexityReasoning
In practice
Example use cases
In a philosophy lecture discussing the nature of emotions.
More from David Hume
All quotes →Eloquence, at its highest pitch, leaves little room for reason or reflection, but addresses itself entirely to the desires and affections, captivating the willing hearers, and subduing their understanding.
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All that belongs to human understanding, in this deep ignorance and obscurity, is to be sceptical, or at least cautious, and not to admit of any hypothesis whatever, much less of any which is supported by no appearance of probability.
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There is a very remarkable inclination in human nature to bestow on external objects the same emotions which it observes in itself, and to find every where those ideas which are most present to it.
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To have recourse to the veracity of the supreme Being, in order to prove the veracity of our senses, is surely making a very unexpected circuit.
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