Editing Associationism (section)

==== David Hume ====
In his 1740 book ''[[A Treatise of Human Nature|Treatise on Human Nature]]'' David Hume outlines three principles for ideas to be connected to each other: resemblance, continuity in time or place, and cause or effect.<ref name=":5">{{Citation|last=Hume|first=David|editor2-first=Sir Lewis Amherst|editor2-last=Selby-Bigge|editor1-first=P. H|editor1-last=Nidditch|title=A Treatise of Human Nature|date=1739-01-01|work=David Hume: A Treatise of Human Nature (Second Edition)|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/oseo/instance.00046221|isbn=978-0-19-824587-2}}</ref> He argues that the mind uses these principles, rather than reason, to traverse from idea to idea.<ref name=":3" /> He writes “When the mind, therefore, passes from the idea or impression of one object to the idea or belief of another, it is not determined by reason, but by certain principles, which associate together the ideas of these objects, and unite them in the imagination.”<ref name=":5" /> These connections are formed in the mind by observation and experience. Hume does not believe that any of these associations are “necessary’ in a sense that ideas or object are truly connected, instead he sees them as mental tools used for creating a useful mental representation of the world.<ref name=":3" />