ABSTRACT
The thought that ideas have a history, that is, that they arise in a primitive form, then undergo systematic development, is usually associated with nineteenth-century philosophy. Of course, philosophers were concerned with the source or origin of ideas, but the notion that ideas emerge systematically out of other ideas, for example out of tensions between conflicting ideas, is usually associated with such philosophers as Hegel and Marx. The theme first emerges at the close of David Hume’s discussion of the causes that lead the plain man to attribute continued and distinct existence to his private perceptions. Having completed this discussion, he turns to what he calls the philosophical view of the matters. Hume’s own suggestion is that the philosopher’s doctrine of double existence is a secondary product of the imagination. It arises in the following way: The philosopher, like anyone else, has a strong propensity to believe in the continued existence of what he perceives.
