Revisiting the Status of Imagination in Hume’s Philosophy with an Emphasis on the Threefold Interpretations of the Theory of Causation

Document Type : Scientific-research

Authors

1 . Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Theology, Shahid Rajaʾi Teacher Training University, Tehran, Iran.

2 PhD Student, Department of Philosophy, Shahid Motahhari University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Hume's theory of causation has long been debated by commentators. As an empiricist, Hume rejects innate ideas and gives the imagination a central role in explaining causation. The three main interpretations of his work—skeptical, naturalistic, and projectivist—differ in their final reading of causation but all agree on the imagination's decisive role in forming causal beliefs. In the skeptical reading, causation is merely a product of habit and mental association, meaningless without imagination. In the naturalistic reading, human nature and imagination are inseparably linked. In projectivism, attributing causal necessity to the external world is an active projection of the mind. This research asks how these three interpretations reveal the fundamental role of imagination in Hume's thought. The findings show that in all three readings, imagination is a structural element in explaining causation. Hume thus transformed imagination from a passive faculty into an active, central agent in shaping knowledge. This shift marks the beginning of a development that paved the way for rethinking imagination's creative role in other domains.

Keywords

References

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