ABSTRACT
David Hume’s contention is partly negative; he is denying something which other philosophers, and to a certain extent plain men, have believed in. According to the underlying implications of Hume’s view of impressions and ideas, and of abstract ideas, “To have an idea of power” is to know what “power” means. Hume then does deny the existence of any power or necessary connexion in objects. The necessary connexion between flame and heat is the feeling attending the transition from the impression of flame to the idea of heat. Many tried to find a close connexion between the two questions: If the universe be made of fire, it must work by burning. And if the universe be made of small hard particles or atoms, it must work by the continual falling of these atoms in the void and the movements generated by their collisions.
