On the other hand, it also conte nds th at feelings are tran ss ubjective entities that pass between persons; that our feeling; are always really someone else's; that it is passion that allows us to be per- sons, rather than the other way a. round. These two stories are insepa- rable in the Treatise, as are Hum e's notion of the social "force" of feel- in gs and his theory of knowledge. That is, the movement of feelings between persons- what is call ed "s ympathy "- is crucial to Hum e's moral philosophy, but I hop e to show that it is also su rpri singly c ru cial to hi s em piricism itself