Ideas from Memory are Stronger than Ideas from Imagination

We use mixed and heterogeneous materials when we think of causes.

• These materials are essentially different from each other no matter how connected they are.

All our arguments on causes and effects consist of:

• actual sensory perception or memory, and
• the idea of that existence which:
  • produces the idea of the perceived object, or
  • is produced by that object.

I explain:

1. The original impression [perception]
2. The transition to the idea of the connected cause or effect
3. The nature and qualities of that idea

I think the ultimate cause of those impressions from the senses are inexplicable by human reason.

We may draw inferences from the coherence of our perceptions, whether they are true or false.

What distinguishes our memory from our imagination?

• The memory preserves the original order and position of its ideas.
• The imagination transposes and changes them as it pleases.

The difference between memory and the imagination lies in the superior force and vivacity of the memory.

A man may indulge his daydream.

A man who forgets something then remembers it is struck with a force of that memory which creates a different feeling.

The ideas of the memory are more strong and lively than those of the imagination.

A painter who paints an idea that he had long ago will find its idea decayed.

We frequently doubt our memory as they become very weak and feeble.

Liars Increase the Strength of Their Imagination to be as Strong as Memory

By losing its force and vivacity, a memory may degenerate as to be taken for an imagination.

On the other hand, an imagination may acquire such a force and vivacity, as to:

• pass as a memory, and
• become a belief

This is noted in the case of liars.

By the frequent repetition of their lies, they come to believe and remember them as realities.

In this case, custom and habit has the same influence on the mind as nature in fixing the idea with equal force and vigour.

Thus, the belief or assent which always attends the memory and senses, is nothing but the vivacity of those perceptions.they present.

This alone distinguishes them from the imagination.

In this case, to believe is to feel an immediate impression of the senses, or a repetition of that impression in the memory.

It is merely the force and liveliness of the perception which:

• constitutes the first act of the judgment, and
• lays the foundation of that reasoning, which we build on it, when we trace the relation of cause and effect.