Inventing Society: Animality and Imagination in Hume

Abstract

This article examines how Hume engages with the notions of animality and imagination in his account of the origin of human society. I argue that, although Hume treats the formation of society as a development specific to the human species, he grounds it in principles shared with other animals such as need and self-preservation. Central to this account is the imagination, which enables human beings to adapt means to ends in response to necessity and to invent society – thus surpassing other species and asserting their dominance over nature. For Hume, in contrast to traditional philosophical accounts, it is not Reason that elevates humanity, but rather imagination: an animal faculty we share with other species and which he conceives as the cornerstone of knowledge.

Keywords: Enlightenment, imagination, invention, animal reason, convention.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21747/21836892/fil42a11