The metamorphosis of ideas: the senses of impressions in Hume

Abstract

The core of Hume's empiricist problematic is the question of the status of experience. This concept unfolds, in his philosophy, in the distinctions he makes between the different impressions, between the different originating processes of ideas. Whether they are simple or complex, of sensation or reflection, each impression produces a certain idea. Each impression, therefore, corresponds to a specific process of producing ideas. This article aims to investigate the status of impressions in Hume, as well as the process of emergence and transformation of ideas. We believe, for the reasons we were seek here, that the experience in Hume functions as a metamorphosis, for it is the transmutation of one and the same material. It is a journey; it is a becoming that goes from the simple to the complex, from the sensations to the reflection, by pure immanence.