Taking Hume's argument that primacy of impressions is the basis for
his ideas, can you give an example of an idea that leads to an
impression?  Just a short answer will do.

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Clarification of Question by anniepannie-ga on 02 Nov 2004 22:49 PST

your comments really gave me some insight into Hume's thesis.  It is
the beginning of what I am searching for.  Go ahead and post the info
as an answer along with any other search strategy you might have. 
Thanks.  Annie pannie

Anniepannie ?

Thanks for your clarification.   At your suggestion, I have posted
below my earlier comment as an answer to your question.  While
researching the question, I too found the excerpt I provided to be a
particular lucid introduction to the interesting issue of whether one
can conceive of exceptions to Hume?s fundamental ?Copy Principle.?  I
found it particularly interesting to learn that Hume raised the
?missing shade of blue? example himself , thus prompting every
succeeding generation of philosophers and students to debate why he
chose to do that and whether the ?missing shade of blue? was indeed an
exception to the Principle and, if so, what that meant for the
validity of the Principle itself.

Before I repost the information, let me share with you the Google
search terms that led me to it.  I suggest that reviewing the results
of this search might lead you to a fuller understanding of the debate
about the issue that interests you:

Hume impression idea counterexample OR ?counter example?
://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&q=hume+impression+idea++counterexample+OR+%22counter+example%22

Now, here?s the ?official? answer, and if anything remains unclear,
please ask for clarification before rating the answer.


?The classic example (raised by Hume himself) of an idea that can be
created without a preexisting corresponding impression is the
so-called
"missing shade of blue."  Here is an excerpt from one discussion of
that counter-example to Hume's so-called  "Copy Principle:

"Hume presents the Copy Principle as an empirical thesis. He
emphasizes this point by offering, in both the Treatise and the first
Enquiry, as an empirical counterexample to the principle, "one
contradictory phenomenon" (T, 5-6; EHU, 20-21) -- the infamous missing
shade of blue. Hume asks us to consider "a person to have enjoyed his
sight for thirty years, and to have become perfectly well acquainted
with colours of all kinds, excepting one particular shade of
blue..."(T, 6). Then:

"Let all the different shades of that colour, except that single one,
be plac'd before him, descending gradually from the deepest to the
lightest; ?tis plain, that he will perceive a blank, where that shade
is wanting, and will be sensible, that there is a greater distance in
that place betwixt the contiguous colours, than in any other. Now I
ask, whether ?tis possible for him, from his own imagination, to
supply this deficiency, and raise up to himself the idea of that
particular shade, tho? it had never been conveyed to him by his
senses? I believe there are few but will be of the opinion that he
can; and this may serve as a proof, that the simple ideas are not
always derived from the correspondent impressions; tho? the instance
is so particular and singular, that ?tis scarce worth our observing,
and does not merit that for it alone we should alter our general
maxim" (T 6).

"Hume's critics have objected that, in offering this counterexample,
he either unwittingly destroys the generality of the Copy Principle,
which he needs, given the uses to which he will put it, or else his
dismissive attitude toward the counterexample reflects his
disingenuous willingness to apply the Copy Principle arbitrarily,
while pretending that it really possesses the generality his uses of
it require."


markj-ga

anniepannie --

This may not be exactly what you are looking for, but the classic
example (raised by Hume himself) of an idea that can be created
without a preexisting corresponding impression is the so-called
"missing shade of blue."  Here is an excerpt from one discussion of
that counter-example to Hume's so-called  "Copy Principle:

"Hume presents the Copy Principle as an empirical thesis. He
emphasizes this point by offering, in both the Treatise and the first
Enquiry, as an empirical counterexample to the principle, "one
contradictory phenomenon" (T, 5-6; EHU, 20-21) -- the infamous missing
shade of blue. Hume asks us to consider "a person to have enjoyed his
sight for thirty years, and to have become perfectly well acquainted
with colours of all kinds, excepting one particular shade of
blue..."(T, 6). Then:

"Let all the different shades of that colour, except that single one,
be plac'd before him, descending gradually from the deepest to the
lightest; ?tis plain, that he will perceive a blank, where that shade
is wanting, and will be sensible, that there is a greater distance in
that place betwixt the contiguous colours, than in any other. Now I
ask, whether ?tis possible for him, from his own imagination, to
supply this deficiency, and raise up to himself the idea of that
particular shade, tho? it had never been conveyed to him by his
senses? I believe there are few but will be of the opinion that he
can; and this may serve as a proof, that the simple ideas are not
always derived from the correspondent impressions; tho? the instance
is so particular and singular, that ?tis scarce worth our observing,
and does not merit that for it alone we should alter our general
maxim" (T 6).

"Hume's critics have objected that, in offering this counterexample,
he either unwittingly destroys the generality of the Copy Principle,
which he needs, given the uses to which he will put it, or else his
dismissive attitude toward the counterexample reflects his
disingenuous willingness to apply the Copy Principle arbitrarily,
while pretending that it really possesses the generality his uses of
it require."


As noted above, this may not be what you looking for because the
counter-example deals with an idea that can be formed *without* an
impression, not an idea that *leads to* an impression.  But, if this
is what you are looking for, I would be happy to post the information
as an answer, along with my search strategy.


markj-ga

Whoops.  I forgot to post a link to the site where I found the above
discussion.  Here it is:

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: David Hume
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hume/