Alison Gopnik on Hume and Buddhism →

Alison Gopnik has found incredible evidence suggesting that Hume was heavily influenced by the teachings of Buddhism. One particularly intriguing similarity is Hume’s disagreement with most of his contemporary Western philosophical colleagues about the self. Indeed, Hume argues quite vehemently what Buddhism had taught for centuries before: there is no self. One’s thoughts, ideas, and beliefs instead occupy the mind. Nigel Warburton puts it quite eloquently:

So you’re saying that children become storytellers of their own lives, then.