Entry 3: Perception [ii.]

Whereas Hume speaks of the mind which is viewed as many types of mental activities which may be grouped into various ways such as: perceptions, feelings, ideas, beliefs, emotions, expectation doubts etc. Hume divides the theory of perception into two parts: simple and complex. Or rather further deduce this as impressions and ideas. An impression is a perception which involves actual sensation, such as seeing, feeling, tasting and hearing. While an idea is a mental perception which arises by thinking of something, rather than by experiencing it. In other words if you have had the experience whether of having a fruit or the act of kissing you are able to form an idea of these experiences at any given time without the need for the actual/object say the fruit. Hume’s argued also, that while you may be able to conjure up the idea without being in its presence you cannot have an impression of something that is not present or that you have never experience. This seems a little flawed since our imaginations seem to warp into varied creatures and monsters that we have no apparent base for their existence… Hume’s counter is simple, he points out how complex ideas may be formed by combinations of simpler ideas. For instance the unicorn deemed a mythical creature since it’s fictitious, a figment of one’s imagination. This does not prevent us from being able to conjure up images of that of a unicorn despite having never perceive one. The ideas of actual horses and horns that we have perceive is how Hume’s states that this is possible. Since it’s the emerging of these simple ideas horse and horn that allows us to create the complex idea of a unicorn I tend to agree.