David Hume's Copy Principle: Prompt One

Copy Principle: Prompt One David Hume, in the book, “An Enquiry of Human Understanding,” denies the thought that ideas are innate or come from within us. Instead, he claims that all ideas, when they are first experienced are derived or duplicated from simple impressions or world experiences. This is known as Hume’s Copy Principle. To prove his hypothesis, Hume divides his argument into two sections. One being that complex ideas can be broken down into simple ideas and followed back to their root impressions. The second addition to his principle is that without impressions there would be no ideas. In this essay, I will define the Copy Principle in detail and argue the problem that Hume’s principle produces is within the definition and criteria …show more content…
In the book, Hume states that if a man had different shades of blue set in front of his eyes with one shade missing, it would be capable for the person to conceive the last shade of blue without ever experiencing it. Hume displaces this rebuttal because he believes it is insignificant and the only one that can argue against his claim. What comes to mind for me in for a counterargument to this claim is the thought of an inner voice and the thought of the self which I believe is innate in everyone. When I speaking of an inner voice I’m not just talking about anyone but for someone who is deaf. When someone is deaf they have no impression to recall from for an inner voice. Deaf people must think differently than someone who is raised to speak in their native language. Just because a deaf person is born in say Germany, does not signify that their brain can separate their language from someone from America, it would be rather impossible. I understand that they can write and read in German but the dialogue is through their sight and all their inner thoughts is all their own. So, their inner voice is innate to them and no one else. In correlation to an inner voice, comes the idea of one’s self. Some may protest the idea of self because they proclaim that other people define who we are. By this I mean that people give us a reflection of who we are by what we show them through our everyday life. Although this may seem true. Everyone is different and has different experiences, therefore I cannot call forth someone else experience as my own to define who I am. Henceforth, whatever idea I have of me is based on me and what I reflect to other people is of me and they interpret it in their own