The concept of the copying principle is prevalent in David Hume's A Treatise on Human Nature. The idea of the copying principle is that simple ideas arise from simple impressions. Hume defines impression as “sensations, passions, and emotions” while ideas are “the faint images of others in thought and reasoning” (Hume 208). Empiricism is best understood to mean that humans gain knowledge through experience (through the senses). I agree with Hume's argument for empiricism, throughout history it has been shown that humans learn best from trial and error and through experience. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayHume presents a number of cases to support his claim and the first begins by stating that simple ideas and impressions are in a cycle where each idea has a corresponding impression that resembles it and each impression has an idea to support her. Ideas and impressions are supposed to be similar because they represent each other. Another case discussed by Hume concerns where ideas and impressions come from and identifying what the cause and effect are. He states that impressions always come first and that an idea does not correspond perfectly to an impression. He says that “we see no colors nor feel any sensations merely by thinking of them” and that while these two notions are related, ideas lack the “force and liveliness” that impressions have (Hume 210). This leads to a third case in which Hume points out that ideas and impressions, although quite similar, are not identical. We can have an idea about something without ever actually encountering it because we use our imagination and fuse together pre-existing ideas. Hume concludes his argument by delving into human actions. Humans are inclined to act on impressions since most humans are impulsive creatures. We use impressions to realize ideas and this goes back to the principle of copying which is a cycle. Impressions provide a backdrop for our ideas that we end up realizing. I agree with Hume's theory of the copying principle because it makes sense that for a human to realize an idea, an impression lies beneath it. This idea directly contributes to empiricism because it is through experience that human beings acquire impressions and form ideas. This is how inventions and progress are born. Humans take separate ideas that they already know and can fuse them together to create a new idea, or they can think of new inventions to solve a problem. The impression is a human emotion and with it comes the need to create and this leads to the formulation and invention of an idea. The principle of copying can be seen throughout time, this is how we are here today.
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