Ill THE ORIGIN OF THE IMPRESSIONS 97 



istic position is admitted, the easier is it to snow 

 that the idealistic position is unassailable, if the 

 idealist confines himself within the limits of posi- 

 tive knowledge. 



Hume deals with the questions whether all our 

 ideas are derived from experience, or whether, on 

 ihe contrary, more or fewer of them are innate, 

 which so much exercised the mind of Locke, after a 

 somewhat summary fashion, in a note to the 

 second section of the " Inquiry " : 



" It is probable that no more was meant by those who denied 

 innate ideas, than that all ideas were copies of our impressions ; 

 though it must be confessed that the terms which they em- 

 ployed were not chosen with such caution, nor so exactly 

 defined, as to prevent all mistakes about their doctrine. For 

 what is meant by innate ? If innate be equivalent to natural, 

 then all the perceptions and ideas of the mind must be allowed 

 to be innate or natural, in whatever sense we take the latter 

 word, whether in opposition to what is uncommon, artificial, or 

 miraculous. If by innate be meant contemporary with our 

 birth, the dispute seems to be frivolous ; nor is it worth while 

 to inquire at what time thinking begins, whether before, at, or 

 after our birth. Again, the word idea seems to be commonly 

 taken in a very loose sense by Locke and others, as standing for 

 any of our perceptions, our sensations and passions, as well as 

 thoughts. Now in this sense I should desire to know what can 

 be meant by asserting that self-love, or resentment of injuries, 

 or the passion between the sexes is not innate ? 



" But admitting these terms, impressions and ideas, in the 

 sense above explained, and understanding by innate what is 

 original or copied from no precedent perception, then we may 

 assert that all our impressions are innate, and our ideas not 

 innate. " 



It would seem that Hume did not think it 

 worth while to acquire a comprehension of the 



VOL. VI H 



