Hume’s Theory of Imagination

I. Some contemporary interpretations of Hume’s theory of imagination.- W. C. Gore’s interpretation.- Exposition.- Evaluation.- On Hume’s problem.- On Hume’s different senses of “imagination”.- On the function of imagination in Hume.- N. K. Smith’s interpretation.- Exposition.- Evaluation.- E. J. Furlong’s interpretation.- Exposition.- Evaluation.- On the reasons for the prominence of imagination.- On the criticism of Smith’s interpretation.- On the function Hume assigns to imagination in the production of belief.- On Hume’s drive for economy in Enquiry I.- Harold Taylor’s interpretation.- Exposition.- Evaluation.- Concluding remarks.- II. The elements of Hume’s theory of imagination.- The contents of the mind.- The materials of imagination.- The source of the materials of imagination.- The criteria for recognizing imaginative activity.- Principles governing the imagination.- The nature of imagination.- Hume’s general conception of imagination.- Hume’s “special” usage of “imagination”.- Imaginative activity and the real.- The function of imagination in cognition.- Concluding remarks.- III. The generic features and basic argument-Structure of Hume’s Philosophy of the Human Understanding.- The primary goal of Hume’s philosophy of the human understanding.- Hume’s primary aim as expressed in “Enquiry I”.- Hume’s primary aim as expressed in “Treatise I”.- Consideration of a possible objection to the foregoing account.- Hume’s primary aim as expressed in the “Abstract” and the appendix to the “Treatise”.- An alternative to the preceding account of Hume’s primary aim.- The argument-structure of section XII of “Enquiry I” and its relation to the basic argument-structure of “Treatise I” as a whole.- Hume’s basic principles.- Concluding remarks.- IV. Hume’s theory of imagination in the argument of His Philosophy of the Human Understanding (I): The attack on reason.- The attack on abstract reasoning.- The account in “Enquiry I”.- The account in the “Abstract”.- The account in “Treatise I”.- The attack on matter-of-fact reasoning.- The account in “Enquiry I”: its primary aim.- The account in “Treatise I”.- The necessity of a cause.- The nature of causal inference.- The principle of uniformity of nature.- Belief and causal inference.- Necessary connexion.- The combined attack on both types of reasoning.- V. Hume’s theory of imagination in the Argument of His Philosophy of the Human Understanding (II): The attack on sense.- The attack on external sense.- The account in “Enquiry I”.- The account in “Treatise I”.- Some remarks on the discussions in sections iii and iv.- The attack on internal sense.- The account in “Treatise I”.- Hume’s remarks in the appendix to the “Treatise”.- Some comments on Hume’s remarks.- VI. Conclusion.- A Bibliography of the Most Important Sources.