quote · Legacy record
Tis from the resemblance of the external actions of animals to those we ourselves perform, that we judge their internal likewise to resemble ours; and the same principle of reasoning, carry'd one step further, will make us conclude that since our internal actions resemble each other, the causes, from which they are deriv'd, must also be resembling. When any hypothesis, therefore, is advanc'd to explain a mental operation, which is common to men and beasts, we must apply the same hypothesis to both.
Tis from the resemblance of the external actions of animals to those we ourselves perform, that we judge their internal likewise to resemble ours; and the same principle of reasoning, carry'd one step further, will make us conclude that since our internal actions resemble each other, the causes, from which they are deriv'd, must also be resembling. When any hypothesis, therefore, is advanc'd to explain a mental operation, which is common to men and beasts, we must apply the same hypothesis to both.
Approximate author period: c. 1743 AD · early modern
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- Author or tradition
- David Hume
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
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- Approximate author period: c. 1743 AD · early modern
Approximate author-period anchor from life dates 1711 to 1776; Wikidata Q37160, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q37160 (accessed 2026-10-08). Not a quotation composition date.
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Supplied reference C; CSV row 268415; supplied attribution, independently unverified
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