A Treatise of Human Nature · Chapter
Section XII: Of the Pride and Humility of Animals explained
Hume extends his analysis of pride and humility to animals, arguing that the same principles—relation to self and production of pleasure or pain—operate in beasts as in humans.
What happens
Hume extends his analysis of pride and humility to animals, arguing that the same principles—relation to self and production of pleasure or pain—operate in beasts as in humans. He observes that animals exhibit pride and humility through their behavior, and that the causes (beauty, strength, etc.) are similar, though limited to bodily qualities since animals lack moral sense. He further argues that the association of ideas and impressions works the same way in animals, providing strong evidence for his hypothesis.
Themes in this chapter
Passions and the Self
Hume argues that pride and humility are passions that have the self as their object, and this holds true across species.
Sympathy and Social Influence
Animals show pride in the approbation of familiar humans, indicating a social dimension to these passions.
Association of Ideas
Hume demonstrates that animals exhibit the same associative principles (contiguity, resemblance, causation) as humans, supporting his theory.
Characters to notice
- David Hume
Author of the section, presenting his hypothesis on pride and humility and extending it to animals.
Key passages
“Thus in whatever light we consider this subject, we may still observe, that die causes of pride and humility correspond exactly to our hypothesis, and that nothing can excite either of these passions, unless it be both related to ourselves, and produces a pleasure or pain independent of the passion.”
No matter how we examine it, the causes of pride and humility always match our theory: they must be connected to ourselves and produce a feeling of pleasure or pain that is not dependent on the passion itself.
Hume reiterates his core thesis about the causes of pride and humility.
“It is plain, that almost in every species of creatures, but especially of the nobler kind, there are many evident marks of pride and humility.”
It is clear that nearly all animals, especially the more advanced ones, show obvious signs of pride and humility.
Hume observes that pride and humility are not unique to humans.
“Thus animals have little or no sense of virtue or vice; they quickly lose sight of the relations of blood; and are incapable of that of right and property: For which reason the causes of their pride and humility must lie solely in the body, and can never be placed either in the mind or external objects.”
Animals lack moral sense and concepts of kinship or property, so their pride and humility must come only from bodily qualities, not from mental or external factors.
Hume explains why animal pride is limited to physical attributes.
“A dog, that has hid a bone, often forgets the place; but when brought to it, his thought passes easily to what he formerly concealed, by means of the contiguity, which produces a relation among his ideas.”
A dog that hides a bone may forget where, but when led to the spot, the proximity triggers the memory, showing how contiguity links ideas.
Hume uses the dog example to illustrate association by contiguity in animals.