Hume provides reasoning for his argument against the concept that individuals have, or are, a self. He believes that there is an error that leads us to believe that we have a self and explains what he believes people actually are. Hume argues that since all ideas are derived from impressions, there must be an impression that arises the idea of the self, but impressions are in constant variation and change. Unlike impressions, Hume believes the self is invariable and uninterrupted. He expands on this idea by stating, “Pain and pleasure, grief and joy, passions and sensations succeed each other, and never all exist at the same time” (Jacobsen: 65). Hume gives the example of these impressions to show that it cannot be from these impressions that …show more content…
I agree with Hume’s view on impressions being in constant variation, but I also believe that the self is in constant change as well. I believe that since our impressions and feelings are in constant change and are continuously varying, this causes us as beings to change as well. Hume, being an empiricist, believes that knowledge comes from experiences and our perceptions. I agree with him on this concept, and I also believe that this is one of the main reasons why individuals are not invariable. Our experiences throughout our daily lives constantly teach us and give us reasons to become better and different people. The mistakes we make and the things we go through on a day-to-day basis better us and help us grow to become a better person than we were yesterday. Although individuals will always have the same identity, and will always remain the same soul, I do not believe that individuals in general as a self remain the same throughout their entire lives. Through our experiences and relationships, individuals are constantly changing and becoming different people, even if we do not realize it. According to Heraclitus, you cannot step into the same river twice. Just as the world around us is in constant change and flow, it is also out of our hands that we as individuals are changing as well. No one is the same person as they were yesterday, or even a minute ago, because people and the things surrounding us are constantly growing, moving and changing, whether we can see it happening or not. I do believe that change is a constant in life. His commonwealth metaphor about how the self remains unchanged even when our ideas, perceptions and impressions are changing does not make sense to me since I believe that it is exactly those things that cause an individual to change. When an