A Puzzle about Fictions in the Treatise

Abstract

I present a hitherto unremarked conflict involving Hume’s claim that certain “fictions of the imagination”—like that of an unchangeable, yet enduring object—are “improper,” “inexact,” or not “strict.” I argue that this claim is inconsistent with other commitments that he has, concerning how the imagination produces fictions and how we form general representations. I consider several ways in which he would likely respond to this charge, and argue that he cannot consistently accept any of them. I conclude that we face an unsolved puzzle: how best to develop or amend Hume’s views, so as to remove the conflict that I have identified?

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