Hume's Theory of Imagination

Early in the present century Professor Norman Kemp Smith developed the idea that the “establishment of a purely naturalistic conception of human nature by the thorough subordination of reason to feeling and instinct, is the determining factor of Hume's philosophy.” Since then several more studies of Hume have revealed a growing emphasis on positive elements in his naturalism, in correction of the traditional view of Hume as primarily a phenomenalist and self-defeating sceptic.