A Treatise of Human Nature · Chapter
Section X: Of the Influence of Belief explained
Hume explores how belief, defined as a vivid and intense conception, influences both passions and imagination.
What happens
Hume explores how belief, defined as a vivid and intense conception, influences both passions and imagination. He argues that belief arises from custom and habit, and that it can elevate an idea to the level of an impression, thereby affecting the will and emotions. He contrasts the force of belief with the weaker effects of poetic fictions, noting that while poetry can engage the imagination, it lacks the solidity of genuine conviction. Hume also discusses how passions can in turn strengthen belief, and how general rules help correct the excesses of imagination.
Themes in this chapter
Custom and General Rules
Hume argues that belief is derived from custom and habit, and that general rules correct the influence of imagination, as seen in the correction of sensory appearances.
Passions and the Self
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.
Skepticism About the External World
Hume's distinction between the force of belief and the weaker fictions of poetry underscores his skeptical view that our convictions are based on custom rather than rational certainty.
Characters to notice
- David Hume
Author and narrator, presenting his system of belief and its effects.
Key passages
“A coward, whose fears are easily awakened, readily assents to every account of danger he meets with; as a person of a sorrowful and melancholy disposition is very credulous of everything, that nourishes his prevailing passion.”
A fearful person quickly believes any story of danger, just as a sad person is easily convinced of anything that feeds their sadness.
Hume illustrates how passions make us more susceptible to belief.
“The effect, then, of belief is to raise up a simple idea to an equality with our impressions, and bestow on it a like influence on the passions.”
Belief makes an idea as strong as an impression, giving it the same power to affect our emotions.
This is the core definition of belief in Hume's system.
“Poets themselves, though liars by profession, always endeavour to give an air of truth to their fictions; and where that is totally neglected, their performances, however ingenious, will never be able to afford much pleasure.”
Even poets, who are known for making things up, try to make their stories seem true; if they don't, their work won't be enjoyable.
Hume observes that even in fiction, a semblance of truth is necessary for pleasure.