present either to the memory or senses, in order to be the
foundation of our reasoning; since the mind cannot run up
with its inferences IN INFINITUM. Reason can never satisfy
us that the existence of any one object does ever imply that
of another; so that when we pass from the impression of one
to the idea or belief of another, we are not determined by
reason, but by custom or a principle of association. But
belief is somewhat more than a simple idea. It is a particular manner of forming an idea: And as the same idea
can only be varyed by a variation of its degrees of force
and vivacity; it follows upon the whole, that belief is a
lively idea produced by a relation to a present impression,
according to the foregoing definition.]
This operation of the mind, which forms the belief of any matter of
fact, seems hitherto to have been one of the greatest mysteries of
philosophy; though no one has so much as suspected, that there was
any difficulty in explaining it. For my part I must own, that I find
a considerable difficulty in the case; and that even when I think I
understand the subject perfectly, I am at a loss for terms to express
my meaning. I conclude, by an induction which seems to me very evident,
that an opinion or belief is nothing but an idea, that is different
from a fiction, not in the nature or the order of its parts, but in the
manner of its being conceived. But when I would explain this manner, I
scarce find any word that fully answers the case, but am obliged to have
recourse to every one's feeling, in order to give him a perfect notion
of this operation of the mind. An idea assented to FEELS
different
from a fictitious idea, that the fancy alone presents to us: And this
different feeling I endeavour to explain by calling it a superior force,
or vivacity, or solidity, or FIRMNESS, or steadiness.
This variety of
terms, which may seem so unphilosophical, is intended only to express
that act of the mind, which renders realities more present to us than
fictions, causes them to weigh more in the thought, and gives them a
superior influence on the passions and imagination.
Provided we
agree about the thing, it is needless to dispute about the terms. The
imagination has the command over all its ideas, and can join, and mix,
and vary them in all the ways possible. It may conceive objects with
all the circumstances of place and time. It may set them, in a manner,
before our eyes in their true colours, just as they might have existed.
But as it is impossible, that that faculty can ever, of itself, reach
belief, it is evident, that belief consists not in the nature and
order of our ideas, but in the manner of their conception, and in
their feeling to the mind. T confess, that it is impossible to explain
perfectly this feeling or manner of conception. We may make use of
words, that express something near it. But its true and proper name
is belief, which is a term that every one sufficiently understands in
common life. And in philosophy we can go no farther, than assert, that
it is something felt by the mind, which distinguishes the ideas of the
judgment from the fictions of the imagination. It gives them more force
and influence; makes them appear of greater importance; infixes them in
the mind; and renders them the governing principles of all our actions.
This definition will also be found to be entirely conformable to every
one's feeling and experience. Nothing is more evident, than that those
ideas, to which we assent, are more strong, firm and vivid, than the
loose reveries of a castle-builder. If one person sits down to read a
book as a romance, and another as a true history, they plainly receive
the same ideas, and in the same order; nor does the incredulity of the
one, and the belief of the other hinder them from putting the very
same sense upon their author. His words produce the same ideas in both;
though his testimony has not the same influence on them.
The latter has
a more lively conception of all the incidents. He enters deeper into
the concerns of the persons: represents to himself their actions, and
characters, and friendships, and enmities: He even goes so far as to
form a notion of their features, and air, and person.
While the former,
who gives no credit to the testimony of the author, has a more faint and
languid conception of all these particulars; and except on account
of the style and ingenuity of the composition, can receive little
entertainment from it.
SECT. VIII. OF THE CAUSES OF BELIEF.
Having thus explained the nature of belief, and shewn that it consists
in a lively idea related to a present impression; let us now proceed
to examine from what principles it is derived, and what bestows the
vivacity on the idea.
I would willingly establish it as a general maxim in the science of
human nature, that when any impression becomes present to us, it
not only transports the mind to such ideas as are related to it, but
likewise communicates to them a share of its force and vivacity. All
the operations of the mind depend in a great measure on its disposition,
when it performs them; and according as the spirits are more or less
elevated, and the attention more or less fixed, the action will always
have more or less vigour and vivacity. When therefore any object is
presented, which elevates and enlivens the thought, every action, to
which the mind applies itself, will be more strong and vivid, as Tong
as that disposition continues, Now it is evident the continuance of the
disposition depends entirely on the objects, about which the mind is
employed; and that any new object naturally gives a new direction to the
spirits, and changes the disposition; as on the contrary, when the mind
fixes constantly on the same object, or passes easily and insensibly
along related objects, the disposition has a much longer duration.
Hence it happens, that when the mind is once inlivened by a present
impression, it proceeds to form a more lively idea of the related
objects, by a natural transition of the disposition from the one to the
other. The change of the objects is so easy, that the mind is scarce
sensible of it, but applies itself to the conception of the related idea
with all the force and vivacity it acquired from the present impression.
If in considering the nature of relation, and that facility of
transition, which is essential to it, we can satisfy ourselves
concerning the reality of this phaenomenon, it is well: But I must
confess I place my chief confidence in experience to prove so material
a principle. We may, therefore, observe, as the first experiment to our
present purpose, that upon the appearance of the picture of an absent
friend, our idea of him is evidently inlivened by the resemblance, and
that every passion, which that idea occasions, whether of joy or sorrow,
acquires new force and vigour. In producing this effect there concur
both a relation and a present impression. Where the picture bears him no
resemblance, or at least was not intended for him, it never so much
as conveys our thought to him: And where it is absent, as well as the
person; though the mind may pass from the thought of the one to that of
the other; it feels its idea to be rather weekend than inlivened by that
transition. We take a pleasure in viewing the picture of a friend, when
it is set before us; but when it is removed, rather choose to consider
him directly, than by reflexion in an image, which is equally distinct
and obscure.
The ceremonies of the Roman Catholic religion may be considered
as experiments of the same nature. The devotees of that strange
superstition usually plead in excuse of the mummeries, with which they
are upbraided, that they feel the good effect of those external motions,
and postures, and actions, in enlivening their devotion, and quickening
their fervour, which otherwise would decay away, if directed entirely to
distant and immaterial objects. We shadow out the objects of our faith,
say they, in sensible types and images, and render them more present to
us by the immediate presence of these types, than it is possible for
us to do, merely by an intellectual view and contemplation. Sensible
objects have always a greater influence on the fancy than any other;
and this influence they readily convey to those ideas, to which they
are related, and which they Resemble. I shall only infer from these
practices, and this reasoning, that the effect of resemblance in
inlivening the idea is very common; and as in every case a resemblance
and a present impression must concur, we are abundantly supplyed with
experiments to prove the reality of the foregoing principle.
We may add force to these experiments by others of a different kind, in
considering the effects of contiguity, as well as of resemblance. It is
certain, that distance diminishes the force of every idea, and that upon
our approach to any object; though it does not discover itself to our
senses; it operates upon the mind with an influence that imitates an
immediate impression. The thinking on any object readily transports the
mind to what is contiguous; but it is only the actual presence of an
object, that transports it with a superior vivacity.
When I am a few
miles from home, whatever relates to it touches me more nearly than
when I am two hundred leagues distant; though even at that distance the
reflecting on any thing in the neighbourhood of my friends and family
naturally produces an idea of them. But as in this latter case, both
the objects of the mind are ideas; notwithstanding there is an easy
transition betwixt them; that transition alone is not able to give
a superior vivacity to any of the ideas, for want of some immediate
impression. [Footnote 6.]
[Footnote 6. NATURANE NOBIS, IN QUIT, DATUM DICAM, AN ERRORE
QUODAM, UT, CUM EA LOCA VIDEAMUS, IN QUIBUS MEMORIA DIGNOS
VIROS ACCEPERIMUS MULTURN ESSE VERSATOS, MAGIS
MOVEAMUR,
QUAM SIQUANDO EORUM IPSORUM AUT JACTA AUDIAMUS, AUT
SCRIPTUM
ALIQUOD LEGAMUS? VELUT EGO NUNC MOVEOR. VENIT ENIM
MIHI
PLATONIS IN MENTEM: QUEM ACCIPIMUS PRIMURN HIC
DISPUTARE
SOLITUM: CUJUS ETIAM ILLI HORTULI PROPINQUI NON
MEMORIAM
SOLUM MIHI AFFERUNT, SED IPSUM VIDENTUR IN
CONSPECTU MEO HIC
PONERE. HIC SPEUSIPPUS, HIC XENOCRATES, HIC EJUS
AUDITOR
POLEMO; CUJUS IPSA ILLA SESSIO FUIT, QUAM VIDEAMUS.
EQUIDEM
ETIAM CURIAM NOSTRAM, HOSTILIAM DICO, NON HANC
NOVAM, QUAE
MIHI MINOR ESSE VIDETUR POST QUAM EST MAJOR, SOLE
BARN
INTUENS SCIPIONEM, CATONEM, LACLIUM, NOSTRUM VERO
IN PRIMIS
AVUM COGITARE. TANTA VIS ADMONITIONIS INEST IN
LOCIS; UT NON
SINE CAUSA EX HIS MEMORIAE DUCTA SIT DISCIPLINA.
Cicero de
Finibus, lib. 5.
{"Should I, he said, "attribute to instinct or to some kind
of illusion the fact that when we see those places in which
we are told notable men spent much of their time, we are
more powerfully affected than when we hear of the exploits
of the men themselves or read something written?
This is
just what is happening to me now; for I am reminded of Plato
who, we are told, was the first to make a practice of
holding discussions here. Those gardens of his near by do
not merely put me in mind of him; they seem to set the man
himself before my very eyes. Speusippus was here; so was
Xenocrates; so was his pupil, Polemo, and that very seat
which we may view was his.
"Then again, when I looked at our Senate-house (I mean the
old building of Hostilius, not this new one; when it was
enlarged, it diminished in my estimation), I used to think
of Scipio, Cato, Laelius and in particular of my own
grandfather.
"Such is the power of places to evoke associations; so it is
with good reason that they are used as a basis for memory
training."}]
No one can doubt but causation has the same influence as the other two
relations; of resemblance and contiguity. Superstitious people are fond
of the relicks of saints and holy men, for the same reason that they
seek after types and images, in order to enliven their devotion, and
give them a more intimate and strong conception of those exemplary
lives, which they desire to imitate. Now it is evident, one of the best
relicks a devotee coued procure, would be the handywork of a saint; and
if his cloaths and furniture are ever to be considered in this light, it
is because they were once at his disposal, and were moved and affected
by him; in which respect they are to be considered as imperfect effects,
and as connected with him by a shorter chain of consequences than any
of those, from which we learn the reality of his existence. This
phaenomenon clearly proves, that a present impression with a relation
of causation may, inliven any idea, and consequently produce belief or
assent, according to the precedent definition of it.
But why need we seek for other arguments to prove, that a present
impression with a relation or transition of the fancy may inliven any
idea, when this very instance of our reasonings from cause and effect
will alone suffice to that purpose? It is certain we must have an idea
of every matter of fact, which we believe. It is certain, that this idea
arises only from a relation to a present impression. It is certain, that
the belief super-adds nothing to the idea, but only changes our manner
of conceiving it, and renders it more strong and lively.
The present
conclusion concerning the influence of relation is the immediate
consequence of all these steps; and every step appears to me sure end
infallible. There enters nothing into this operation of the mind but a
present impression, a lively idea, and a relation or association in the
fancy betwixt the impression and idea; so that there can be no suspicion
of mistake.
In order to put this whole affair in a fuller light, let us consider
it as a question in natural philosophy, which we must determine by
experience and observation. I suppose there is an object presented, from
which I draw a certain conclusion, and form to myself ideas, which I
am said to believe or assent to. Here it is evident, that however that
object, which is present to my senses, and that other, whose existence
I infer by reasoning, may be thought to influence each other by their
particular powers or qualities; yet as the phenomenon of belief, which
we at present examine, is merely internal, these powers and qualities,
being entirely unknown, can have no hand in producing it. It is the
present impression, which is to be considered as the true and real
cause of the idea, and of the belief which attends it.
We must therefore
endeavour to discover by experiments the particular qualities, by which
it is enabled to produce so extraordinary an effect.
First then I observe, that the present impression has not this effect
by its own proper power and efficacy, and when considered alone, as
a single perception, limited to the present moment. I find, that
an impression, from which, on its first appearance, I can draw no
conclusion, may afterwards become the foundation of belief, when I have
had experience of its usual consequences. We must in every case have
observed the same impression in past instances, and have found it to be
constantly conjoined with some other impression. This is confirmed by
such a multitude of experiments, that it admits not of the smallest
doubt.
From a second observation I conclude, that the belief, which attends the
present impression, and is produced by a number of past impressions and
conjunctions; that this belief, I say, arises immediately, without any
new operation of the reason or imagination. Of this I can be certain,
because I never am conscious of any such operation, and find nothing
in the subject, on which it can be founded. Now as we call every thing
CUSTOM, which proceeds from a past repetition, without any new reasoning
or conclusion, we-may establish it as a certain truth, that all the
belief, which follows upon any present impression, is derived solely
from that origin. When we are accustomed to see two impressions
conjoined together, the appearance or idea of the one immediately
carries us to the idea of the other.
Being fully satisfyed on this head, I make a third set of experiments,
in order to know, whether any thing be requisite, beside the customary
transition, towards the production of this phaenomenon of belief. I
therefore change the first impression into an idea; and observe, that
though the customary transition to the correlative idea still remains,
yet there is in reality no belief nor perswasion. A present impression,
then, is absolutely requisite to this whole operation; and when after
this I compare an impression with an idea, and find that their only
difference consists in their different degrees of force and vivacity,
I conclude upon the whole, that belief is a more vivid and intense
conception of an idea, proceeding from its relation to a present
impression.
Thus all probable reasoning is nothing but a species of sensation. It is
not solely in poetry and music, we must follow our taste and sentiment,
but likewise in philosophy. When I am convinced of any principle, it
is only an idea, which strikes more strongly upon me.
When I give the
preference to one set of arguments above another, I do nothing but
decide from my feeling concerning the superiority of their influence.
Objects have no discoverable connexion together; nor is it from any
other principle but custom operating upon the imagination, that we
can draw any inference from the appearance of one to the existence of
another.
It will here be worth our observation, that the past experience, on
which all our judgments concerning cause and effect depend, may operate
on our mind in such an insensible manner as never to be taken notice of,
and may even in some measure be unknown to us. A person, who stops
short in his journey upon meeting a river in his way, foresees the
consequences of his proceeding forward; and his knowledge of these
consequences is conveyed to him by past experience, which informs him of
such certain conjunctions of causes and effects. But can we think,
that on this occasion he reflects on any past experience, and calls
to remembrance instances, that he has seen or heard of, in order to
discover the effects of water on animal bodies? No surely; this is not
the method, in which he proceeds in his reasoning. The idea of sinking
is so closely connected with that of water, and the idea of suffocating
with that of sinking, that the mind makes the transition without the
assistance of the memory. The custom operates before we have time for
reflection. The objects seem so inseparable, that we interpose not
a moment's delay in passing from the one to the other.
But as this
transition proceeds from experience, and not from any primary connexion
betwixt the ideas, we must necessarily acknowledge, that experience
may produce a belief and a judgment of causes and effects by a secret
operation, and without being once thought of. This removes all pretext,
if there yet remains any, for asserting that the mind is convinced
by reasoning of that principle, that instances of which we have no
experience, must necessarily resemble those, of which we have. For we
here find, that the understanding or imagination can draw inferences
from past experience, without reflecting on it; much more without
forming any principle concerning it, or reasoning upon that principle.
In general we may observe, that in all the most established and uniform
conjunctions of causes and effects, such as those of gravity, impulse,
solidity, &c. the mind never carries its view expressly to consider any
past experience: Though in other associations of objects, which are more
rare and unusual, it may assist the custom and transition of ideas by
this reflection. Nay we find in some cases, that the reflection produces
the belief without the custom; or more properly speaking, that the
reflection produces the custom in an oblique and artificial manner. I
explain myself. It is certain, that not only in philosophy, but even in
common life, we may attain the knowledge of a particular cause merely by
one experiment, provided it be made with judgment, and after a careful
removal of all foreign and superfluous circumstances.
Now as after one
experiment of this kind, the mind, upon the appearance either of the
cause or the effect, can draw an inference concerning the existence
of its correlative; and as a habit can never be acquired merely by one
instance; it may be thought, that belief cannot in this case be esteemed
the effect of custom. But this difficulty will vanish, if we consider,
that though we are here supposed to have had only one experiment of
a particular effect, yet we have many millions to convince us of this
principle; that like objects placed in like circumstances, will always
produce like effects; and as this principle has established itself by a
sufficient custom, it bestows an evidence and firmness on any opinion,
to which it can be applied. The connexion of the ideas is not habitual
after one experiment: but this connexion is comprehended under another
principle, that is habitual; which brings us back to our hypothesis. In
all cases we transfer our experience to instances, of which we have no
experience, either expressly or tacitly, either directly or indirectly.
I must not conclude this subject without observing, that it is very
difficult to talk of the operations of the mind with perfect propriety
and exactness; because common language has seldom made any very nice
distinctions among them, but has generally called by the same term
all such as nearly resemble each other. And as this is a source
almost inevitable of obscurity and confusion in the author; so it may
frequently give rise to doubts and objections in the reader, which
otherwise he would never have dreamed of. Thus my general position, that
an opinion or belief is nothing but a strong and lively idea derived
from a present impression related to it, maybe liable to the following
objection, by reason of a little ambiguity in those words strong and
lively. It may be said, that not only an impression may give rise to
reasoning, but that an idea may also have the same influence; especially
upon my principle, that all our ideas are derived from correspondent
impressions. For suppose I form at present an idea, of which I have
forgot the correspondent impression, I am able to conclude from this
idea, that such an impression did once exist; and as this conclusion is
attended with belief, it may be asked, from whence are the qualities of
force and vivacity derived, which constitute this belief? And to this I
answer very readily, from the present idea. For as this idea is not here
considered, as the representation of any absent object, but as a real
perception in the mind, of w