Les sympathies dans l’œuvre de David Hume
Sympathy, as a principle by which an idea is converted into an impression, is not the only kind of sympathy that David Hume employs in his works. Hume refers to several of the multiple distinct meanings that the term afforded in 18th century vernacular. The thesis argue that in the end the Scottish philosopher uses the word “sympathy” with five different meanings, besides his own philosophical concept. Identifying these meanings as they appear throughout Hume’s body of work provided a greater understanding of the nature of his own philosophical concept of sympathy. This brought to light the relationship between sympathy and another affection-producing principle that Hume occasionally mentions: contagion. Similarly, this granted insight into the interplay between sympathy and other elements in Hume’s philosophy, especially the animal spirits, their movements, and emotions. Indeed, this analysis has uncovered the key role that animal spirits and their movements play in Hume’s theory of passions, observing that his principle of sympathy merely describes an increase in the agitation of animal spirits. Consequently, sympathy as a principle of conversion of an idea into an impression describes what is in fact in Hume’s thinking a physiological mechanism. Further, this investigation has shown that those impressions which Hume calls “emotions” specifically refer to the movement of animal spirits. Therefore, we must recognize that Hume’s taxonomy not only includes perceptions in human understanding (ideas, passions, sentiments, etc.), but also integrates perceptions in the human body (emotions), and that they are closely correlated. This leads to the hypothesis that there are in Hume’s philosophical works enough elements to delineate a theory of the relationship between body and mind (or soul). Understanding sympathy as a physiological mechanism involving the agitation of animal spirits offers a new outlook on David Hume's conception of human nature.
David Hume contagion physiologie philosophy sympathy animal spirits physiology