Online research in philosophy

In this paper I consider the context and significance of the first instalment of Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature , Books One and Two, on the understanding and on the passions, published in 1739 without Book Three. I argue that Books One and Two taken together should be read as addressing the question of the relation between reason and passion, and place Hume's discussion in the context of a large early modern philosophical literature on the topic. Hume's goal is to show that the passions do not require government by reason, and to illustrate various ways in which the passions of social beings regulate themselves. The underlying theme of the first Treatise is thus a new theory of sociability: sympathetic sociability.

David Hume has been called the father of positivism,1 and there is support for this interpretation already in the subtitle of his first published work, the Treatise of Human Nature, Being an Attempt to Introduce the Experimental Method into Moral Subjects. From the context it is clear that Hume identifies the "experimental" method with the empirical-inductive nomothetic (law-seeking) method traditionally ascribed to Newton and his followers.It comes as something of a paradox, therefore, that Hume's theory of sympathy in Books 2 and 3 of the Treatise has been interpreted as an early hermeneutic, non-positivist theory of understanding, or a precursor of such theories. This reading has been most clearly developed by ..

This book is a penetrating study of the theory of mind and morality that Hume developed in his Treatise of Human Nature and other writings. Hume rejects any conception of moral beliefs and moral truths. He understands morality in terms of distinctive desires and other sentiments that arise through the correction of sympathy. Hume's theory presents a powerful challenge to recent cognitivist theories of moral judgement, Bricke argues, and suggests significant limitations to recent conventionalist and contractarian accounts of morality's content.

This book provides the first comprehensive account of Hume’s conception of objects in Book I of the Treatise. What, according to Hume, are objects? Ideas? Impressions? Mind-independent objects? All three? None of the above? Through a close textual analysis, I show that Hume thought that objects are imagined ideas. However, I argue that he struggled with two accounts of how and when we imagine such ideas. On the one hand, Hume believed that we always and universally imagine that objects are the causes of our perceptions. On the other hand, he thought that we only imagine such causes when we reach a “philosophical” level of thought. This tension manifests itself in Hume’s account of personal identity; a tension that, I argue, Hume acknowledges in the Appendix to the Treatise. As a result of presenting a detailed account of Hume’s conception of objects, we are forced to accommodate new interpretations of, at least, Hume’s notions of belief, personal identity, justification and causality.

David Hume started work on his Treatise of Human Nature (1739/40) at the age of 15 and finished it in his mid 20's. His ambition was no less than a complete science of human nature, including an account of knowledge, the emotions, and morality. Some of Hume's conclusions are famously skeptical, while others offer a rich positive source of philosophical and psychological insight. He considers personal identity, free will, induction, causality, the limits of reason, sentiment as a foundation for morality, relativism, and objectivity. The Treatise now exerts a towering influence over the Western tradition, and many contemporary currents in moral philosophy, epistemology, philosophy of mind, cognitive science, and philosophy of science are identifiably "Humean." In this tutorial we will read the entire Treatise along with other works by Hume and influential secondary literature. Throughout, we will have two goals, namely understanding Hume's positions in their historical context and making sense of the relevance of Hume's approach to current theorizing. At the end of the semester we will turn to some recent inheritors of Hume's projects, with special attention to philosophical naturalism.

Childhood and youth: loss of faith and a passion for literature -- "At a distance from relations": writing his treatise in France -- Hume after the treatise -- Hume as librarian and historian -- Hume's life as a man in the public eye -- Hume's final years in Edinburgh -- Death and character.

This Guide provides students with the scholarly and interpretive tools they need to understand Hume’s A Treatise of Human Nature and its influence on modern philosophy. A student guide to Hume’s A Treatise of Human Nature. Focuses on recent developments in Hume scholarship. Covers topics such as the formulation, reception and scope of the Treatise, imagination and memory, the passions, moral sentiments, and the role of sympathy. All the chapters are newly written by Hume scholars. Each chapter guides the reader through a portion of the Treatise, explaining the central arguments and key contemporary interpretations of those arguments.

David and Mary Norton present the definitive scholarly edition of Hume's Treatise, one of the greatest philosophical works ever written. The first volume contains the critical text of David Hume's Treatise of Human Nature (1739/40), followed by the short Abstract (1740) in which Hume set out the key arguments of the larger work; the volume concludes with A Letter from a Gentleman to his Friend in Edinburgh (1745), Hume's later defense of the Treatise.

David Hume (1711-1776) is one of the greatest figures in the history of British philosophy. Of all Hume's writings, the most profound is undoubtedly Treatise of Human Nature . The first book of the Treatise , in which he outlines the epistemology and metaphysics underpinning his system, is universally acknowledged to be his greatest intellectual achievement. Hume on Knowledge provides for the first time ever a map to Book I and sets out principal ideas and arguments in a clear and readable way. Any reader coming to the Treatise for the first time will be able to easily understand the importance and intricacies inherent to Hume's thought.