A Treatise of Human Nature · Chapter
Section II: Of Pride and Humility, Their Objects and Causes explained
Hume examines the passions of pride and humility, noting that while they are simple impressions that cannot be defined, they can be described.
What happens
Hume examines the passions of pride and humility, noting that while they are simple impressions that cannot be defined, they can be described. He establishes that both passions have the same object—the self—but their causes are distinct. He distinguishes between the cause and the object of these passions, and further subdivides the cause into the quality that operates and the subject on which it is placed, using the example of a beautiful house owned by a person.
Themes in this chapter
Passions and the Self
Pride and humility are passions that have the self as their object, and their causes are external qualities or subjects related to the self.
Custom and General Rules
The distinction between cause and object, and the subdivision of cause into quality and subject, reflect the general rules by which passions operate.
Characters to notice
- David Hume
Author and primary philosopher, presenting the analysis of pride and humility.
Key passages
“The passions of pride and humility being simple and uniform impressions, it is impossible we can ever, by a multitude of words, give a just definition of them, or indeed of any of the passions.”
Pride and humility are simple, uniform impressions that cannot be defined with words; we can only describe them by listing their accompanying circumstances.
Hume emphasizes the limits of language in defining passions.
“It is evident, that pride and humility, though directly contrary, have yet the same object. This object is self, or that succession of related ideas and impressions, of which we have an intimate memory and consciousness.”
Pride and humility are opposite passions but share the same object: the self, which is a succession of related ideas and impressions we remember and are conscious of.
The self is the common object of both passions.
“We must therefore, make a distinction betwixt the cause and the object of these passions; betwixt that idea, which excites them, and that to which they direct their view, when excited.”
We need to separate the cause of pride and humility from their object: the cause is the idea that triggers the passion, while the object is what the passion focuses on once aroused.
Hume introduces a key distinction between cause and object.
“A man, for instance, is vain of a beautiful house, which belongs to him, or which he has himself built and contrived. Here the object of the passion is himself, and the cause is the beautiful house: Which cause again is subdivided into two parts, viz. the quality, which operates upon the passion, and the subject in which the quality inheres.”
For example, a man is proud of a beautiful house he owns or built. The object of his pride is himself, the cause is the house, and the cause has two parts: the quality (beauty) and the subject (the house as his property or creation).
Hume illustrates the distinction between quality and subject in the cause of pride.