Abstract

CALVENTE, Sofía Beatriz. Sympathy, Belief and Experience in David Hume. Ideas y Valores [online]. 2022, vol.71, n.180, pp.173-195.  Epub Mar 27, 2023. ISSN 0120-0062.  https://doi.org/10.15446/ideasyvalores.v71n180.90408.

It has not yet been explored whether the communicational power of the Humean principle of sympathy is limited to conveying feelings and emotions or it also allows sharing beliefs. I will show that Hume considers the latter possibility both by means of the universality of human nature and the inherently social character of man, and the interconnection between thoughts and feelings. Contrary to the opinion of several authors, I will also argue that our personal experience is not a necessary condition to start up the principle of sympathy, but we can receive feelings and beliefs from other people even though we do not have previous similar experience.

Keywords : communicability; emotions; Early Modern Philosophy; human nature; opinions.

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