Scepticism, Causal Science and 'The Old Hume'

Journal of Scottish Philosophy 10 (2):123-142 (2012)
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Abstract

This paper replies to Peter Millican (Mind, 2009), who argues that Hume denies the possible existence of causal powers which underlie the regularities that we observe in nature. I argue that Hume's own philosophical views on causal power cannot be considered apart from his mitigated skepticism. His account of the origin of the idea of causal power, which traces it to a subjective impression, only leads to what he calls ‘Pyrrhonian scepticism’. He holds that we can only escape such excessive skepticism by way of a natural judgment based on the association of ideas, which forms the basis of what he calls ‘a legitimate ground of Assent’

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John Wright
Central Michigan University

Citations of this work

The Science in Hume's Science of Man.Tamás Demeter - 2020 - Journal of Scottish Philosophy 18 (3):257-271.
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Hume's Preference for the Enquiry: A Reply to Miller.Stephen Buckle - 2013 - British Journal for the History of Philosophy 21 (6):1219-1229.

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References found in this work

A treatise of human nature.David Hume & D. G. C. Macnabb (eds.) - 1969 - Harmondsworth,: Penguin Books.
An essay concerning human understanding.John Locke - 1689 - New York: Oxford University Press. Edited by Pauline Phemister.
The philosophical writings of Descartes.René Descartes - 1984 - New York: Cambridge University Press.
An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals.David Hume - 1751 - New York,: Oxford University Press UK. Edited by Tom L. Beauchamp.

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