self/freedom

Hume and self

I believe David Hume does indeed have valid arguments that we are nothing but a bundle of perceptions. He argues that we what call our self, and our identity is an illusion we formulate. What we call identity is actually a collection of perceptions. When we retreat into ourselves what we find are peceptions/feelings such as cold, hot, love, hate, sadness, anger, pain. Hume is saying that we never find any entity that could be labeled ‘self’. I feel that this is where his strongest argument is, because it is difficult to prove otherwise. When we search inside ourselves we really only find our feelings and perceptions. Hume says it is almost impossible to think of a moment in time when we aren’t feeling something. All of his points are difficult to deny or to get around. Hume gives us the analogy of the theatre. We view things as if in a theatre, and experience a variety of individual perceptions in such rapid succession that it appears to be a whole. They interact, flutter in and out, mingle in a never ending stream of activity creating the illusion of identity. This comparison of the human experience to the theatre gives a probable way Hume’s theory could be carried out, that a multitude of perceptions could act so fast, and work so cohesively that it appears seamless to us.