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The Vision of Hume
There is no such thing as a rational belief. In all the incidents of life we ought to preserve our scepticism. Hume's ideas about the nature of certainty revolutionized Western philosophy. This radical mind discovered a 'missing step' in 18th century thinking, and brought to the fore an 'observational awareness' that restrains the mind's tendency to go beyond actual experience.
This fascinating introduction to Hume's philosophy, with extensive excerpts from his writings, offers insights into his theories of causation, impression, innate ideas, personal identity, free choice, ethics, sympathy, justice, religion and divine design.
This fascinating introduction to Hume's philosophy, with extensive excerpts from his writings, offers insights into his theories of causation, impression, innate ideas, personal identity, free choice, ethics, sympathy, justice, religion and divine design.
- GenresPhilosophy
151 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1996
About the author
David Hume
3,165 books1,742 followersDavid Hume was a Scottish historian, philosopher, economist, diplomat and essayist known today especially for his radical philosophical empiricism and scepticism.
In light of Hume's central role in the Scottish Enlightenment, and in the history of Western philosophy, Bryan Magee judged him as a philosopher "widely regarded as the greatest who has ever written in the English language." While Hume failed in his attempts to start a university career, he took part in various diplomatic and military missions of the time. He wrote The History of England which became a bestseller, and it became the standard history of England in its day.
His empirical approach places him with John Locke, George Berkeley, and a handful of others at the time as a British Empiricist.
Beginning with his A Treatise of Human Nature (1739), Hume strove to create a total naturalistic "science of man" that examined the psychological basis of human nature. In opposition to the rationalists who preceded him, most notably René Descartes, he concluded that desire rather than reason governed human behaviour. He also argued against the existence of innate ideas, concluding that humans have knowledge only of things they directly experience. He argued that inductive reasoning and therefore causality cannot be justified rationally. Our assumptions in favour of these result from custom and constant conjunction rather than logic. He concluded that humans have no actual conception of the self, only of a bundle of sensations associated with the self.
Hume's compatibilist theory of free will proved extremely influential on subsequent moral philosophy. He was also a sentimentalist who held that ethics are based on feelings rather than abstract moral principles, and expounded the is–ought problem.
Hume has proved extremely influential on subsequent western philosophy, especially on utilitarianism, logical positivism, William James, the philosophy of science, early analytic philosophy, cognitive philosophy, theology and other movements and thinkers. In addition, according to philosopher Jerry Fodor, Hume's Treatise is "the founding document of cognitive science". Hume engaged with contemporary intellectual luminaries such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, James Boswell, and Adam Smith (who acknowledged Hume's influence on his economics and political philosophy). Immanuel Kant credited Hume with awakening him from "dogmatic slumbers".
In light of Hume's central role in the Scottish Enlightenment, and in the history of Western philosophy, Bryan Magee judged him as a philosopher "widely regarded as the greatest who has ever written in the English language." While Hume failed in his attempts to start a university career, he took part in various diplomatic and military missions of the time. He wrote The History of England which became a bestseller, and it became the standard history of England in its day.
His empirical approach places him with John Locke, George Berkeley, and a handful of others at the time as a British Empiricist.
Beginning with his A Treatise of Human Nature (1739), Hume strove to create a total naturalistic "science of man" that examined the psychological basis of human nature. In opposition to the rationalists who preceded him, most notably René Descartes, he concluded that desire rather than reason governed human behaviour. He also argued against the existence of innate ideas, concluding that humans have knowledge only of things they directly experience. He argued that inductive reasoning and therefore causality cannot be justified rationally. Our assumptions in favour of these result from custom and constant conjunction rather than logic. He concluded that humans have no actual conception of the self, only of a bundle of sensations associated with the self.
Hume's compatibilist theory of free will proved extremely influential on subsequent moral philosophy. He was also a sentimentalist who held that ethics are based on feelings rather than abstract moral principles, and expounded the is–ought problem.
Hume has proved extremely influential on subsequent western philosophy, especially on utilitarianism, logical positivism, William James, the philosophy of science, early analytic philosophy, cognitive philosophy, theology and other movements and thinkers. In addition, according to philosopher Jerry Fodor, Hume's Treatise is "the founding document of cognitive science". Hume engaged with contemporary intellectual luminaries such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, James Boswell, and Adam Smith (who acknowledged Hume's influence on his economics and political philosophy). Immanuel Kant credited Hume with awakening him from "dogmatic slumbers".
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 27, 2017
*rating his work not the Hume excerpts*
A tad gushy as the start but unless you read about serial killers or war criminals that's to be expected with works like this. Gives a clear albeit quite brief overview of Hume's notions of his epistemology - Impressions/Ideas + causation as well as the ethical/moral and religious consequences of his thought.
A tad gushy as the start but unless you read about serial killers or war criminals that's to be expected with works like this. Gives a clear albeit quite brief overview of Hume's notions of his epistemology - Impressions/Ideas + causation as well as the ethical/moral and religious consequences of his thought.
June 10, 2009
David Hume is one of my favorite philosophers. In the first half of this book, Appelbaum tries to explain Hume; the second half includes selections from the jolly skeptic himself. Hume is the better writer, & he has no trouble in getting his own ideas across clearly. I don't always agree w/ Hume, but his logic is inexorable.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews