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Summary

Hume approaches topics in metaphysics and epistemology via his theory of ideas and the cognitive faculties. In metaphysics, his primary interest is in questions not of the form ‘What is X?’ but of the form ‘What can we conceive X to be?’ His best-known contribution is his argument that causation, as far as we can conceive it, is just regular succession among objects or events, plus our habit of inferring one object or event from another. He also made important contributions concerning space and time, existence, identity, substances, and free will. In epistemology, his primary interest is in questions of the form ‘Which of our cognitive faculties is responsible for our belief in X?’ His best-known contribution is his argument that habit, not reason, engages us to suppose that unobserved events will resemble observed ones (a view concerning what philosophers now call induction). He also made important contributions concerning the distinction between the a priori and the a posteriori, belief in the external world, and religious belief.

Key works

Books that discuss Hume's views about a range of topics in metaphysics and epistemology (construed broadly, so as to include philosophy of mind, action and language) include Stroud 1977Garrett 1997 and Allison 2008Fogelin 1985 and Loeb 2002 are devoted to his epistemology. For three different approaches to his theory of causation, see Blackburn 1990, Kail 2007 and Millican 2009. For two different approaches to his argument about induction, see Owen 1999 and Peter Millican's article 'Hume's Sceptical Doubts Concerning Induction,' in Millican 2001.

Introductions

Three introductory books that take quite different approaches to Hume's metaphysics and epistemology are Ayer 1980Blackburn 2008 and Wright 2009Norton & Taylor 1993 contains helpful introductory articles on Hume's views about several topics in metaphysics and epistemology.

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  1. Hume’s Imagination by Tito MAGRI (review).Don Garrett - 2023 - Review of Metaphysics 77 (1):156-158.
    In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Hume’s Imagination by Tito MAGRI Don Garrett MAGRI, Tito. Hume’s Imagination. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022. xiii + 494 pp. Cloth, $115.00In A Treatise of Human Nature, Hume defines “the imagination” in an inclusive sense as “the faculty, by which we form our fainter ideas”—that is, those that are not memories. In the narrower sense, it is “the same faculty, excluding only our demonstrative and probable (...)
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  2. A treatise of human nature.David Hume - 2007 - In Elizabeth Schmidt Radcliffe, Richard McCarty, Fritz Allhoff & Anand Vaidya (eds.), Late modern philosophy: essential readings with commentary. Wiley-Blackwell.
  3. Is imagining impossibilities impossible?William Bondi Knowles - forthcoming - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy.
    According to what Hume termed an ‘establish’d maxim’, nothing absolutely impossible is imaginable. It has recently been claimed against this that given the ubiquity of stipulative imagination, where one imagines a proposition simply by adding it as a stipulation about the imagined situation, it seems that we can imagine any impossibility whatsoever, even plain contradictions: all we need to do is add them as stipulations. The aim of this article is both to defend Hume’s maxim against this objection and – (...)
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  4. O Ceticismo Quanto À Razão Em HUET e Hume.Wendel de Holanda Pereira Campelo - 2023 - Síntese Revista de Filosofia 50 (157):239.
    A despeito de ser bem menos conhecido atualmente, o problema do ceticismo quanto à razão foi um assunto bastante relevante entre os autores dos séculos XVII e XVIII, da mesma maneira que o ceticismo quanto ao mundo exterior. Nesse sentido, busco apresentar os impactos de Huet sobre a posição de Hume no que concerne ao ceticismo quanto à razão do Tratado da Natureza Humana, particularmente a partir da versão pirrônica elaborada por Huet do argumento cartesiano do “Deus enganador”. Assim, como (...)
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  5. Disciplinary Transformations in the Age of Newton: The Case of Metaphysics.Alan Gabbey - 2023 - In Wolfgang Lefèvre (ed.), Between Leibniz, Newton, and Kant: Philosophy and Science in the Eighteenth Century. Springer Verlag. pp. 3-25.
    The chapter emphasizes the complexity of the relations between philosophy and science in the eighteenth century, as they must be seen against the background that, in the early modern period, as in the preceding centuries, philosophy generally included physics or natural philosophy, mathematics, and metaphysics. Showing the variance in attitudes among Leibniz, Newton, and Locke on how to draw a line of division between metaphysics and physics with regard to a sample of topics, this chapter draws attention to the divergent (...)
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  6. Vom Phänomenalen zum Gedanklichen: Studien zu David Humes Semantik, Begriffslehre und Metaphysik.Asher Jiang - 2020 - Paderborn: Brill Mentis.
    Dieses Buch untersucht Humes revolutionäre Theorie des begrifflichen Denkens.Das begriffliche Denken ist eine wichtige Tätigkeit des Geistes. Was genau geschieht im Geist, wenn wir diese Tätigkeit ausüben? Im Vergleich zu anderen Philosophen der Frühen Neuzeit hat Hume bei der Beantwortung dieser Frage eine grössere Schwierigkeit: Humesche Ideen sind (anders als bei Descartes und Locke) rein phänomenaler Natur. Sie sind geistige "Bildchen" ohne begriffliche Struktur. Wie soll das begriffliche Denken mit Hilfe derartiger Ideen möglich sein? Hume reagierte auf diese Herausforderung mit (...)
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  7. Kausalität und Naturgesetze bei Hume und Kant.Wiebke Henning - 2018 - Dissertation, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
    In der Dissertation "Kausalität und Naturgesetze bei Hume und Kant" wird die These vertreten, dass sich in der Werken Kants vielfältige Antworten auf den Skeptizismus David Humes finden lassen. Kants Position zu Naturgesetzen und Kausalität wird insbesondere anhand seiner Theorien zu besonderen Naturgesetzen in der Kritik der reinen Vernunft, den Prolegomena, den Metaphysischen Anfangsgründen der Naturwissenschaft und in der Kritik der Urteilskraft untersucht. Geleitet wird die Untersuchung von der Frage, wie empirische Gesetze in Kants Philosophie gerechtfertigt werden. In diesem Zusammenhang (...)
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  8. Probabilités et rationalité du choix: au sujet de l'irrationnel de David Hume.Pierre Guy Mubambar - 2022 - Paris: L'Harmattan.
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  9. Passioni del tempo: origine della religione e utilità della storia da Hobbes a Hume.Giovanni Paoletti - 2023 - Roma: Carocci editore.
  10. Beschouwingen naar aanleiding van David Hume en zijne leer van het kenvermogen.Marinus Antoni van Melle - 1901 - Amsterdam,: Scheltema & Holkema's boekhandel.
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  11. Hat Kant Hume Widerlegt?Isaak Mirkin - 1902 - Halle a.S.,: Hofbuchdr. von C.A. Kaemmerer & Co..
  12. The imagination in Spinoza and Hume: a comparative study in the light of some recent contributions to psychology.Willard Clark Gore - 1902 - Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  13. David Humes lehre vom glauben und ihre entwickelung vom Treatise zur Inquiry..Julius Zimels - 1903 - Kirchhain N.-L.,: M. Schmersow, vorm. Zahn & Baendel.
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  14. Hume, Kant, e lo scetticismo filosofico.G. Casazza - 1913 - Roma: Albrighi, Segati.
  15. “From the Phenomena of Motions to the Forces of Nature”: Hypothesis or Deduction?Howard Stein - 1990 - PSA Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1990 (2):209-222.
    There is a passage in Hume’s Enquiry concerning Human Understanding that I have always found striking and rather charming. It concerns a metaphysical theory that Hume regards as bizarre; and he offers two philosophical arguments in its confutation. It is the first of these that I have in mind:First, [he says,] It seems to me, that this theory… is too bold ever to carry conviction with it to a man, sufficiently apprized of the weakness of human reason, and the narrow (...)
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  16. FRANCISCO PEREIRA GANDARILLAS David Hume. Naturaleza, conocimiento y metafísica.Jorge Andrés García - 2011 - Praxis Filosófica 32:301-304.
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  17. Responses to Ryan, Fosl and Gautier: SKEPSIS Book Symposium on 'Recasting Hume and Early Modern Philosophy', by Paul Russell.Paul Russell - 2023 - Skepsis: A Journal for Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Research 14 (26):121-139.
    In the replies to my critics that follow I offer a more detailed account of the specific papers that they discuss or examine. The papers that they are especially concerned with are: “The Material World and Natural Religion in Hume’s Treatise” (Ryan) [Essay 3], “Hume’s Skepticism and the Problem of Atheism” (Fosl) [Essay 12], and “Hume’s Philosophy of Irreligion and the Myth of British Empiricism (Gautier) [Essay 16].
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  18. Humes uppfattning av jagets identitet.Einar Tegen - 1932 - Uppsala,: Almqvist & Wiksells boktryckeri-a.-b.; [etc., etc..
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  19. Precis of Recasting Hume and Early Modern Philosophy. SKEPSIS Book Symposium: Paul Russell, Recasting Hume and Early Modern Philosophy, With replies to critics: Peter Fosl (pp. 77-95), Claude Gautier (pp. 96-111) , and Todd Ryan (pp.112-122).Paul Russell - 2023 - Skepsis: A Journal for Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Research 14 (26):71-73.
    Recasting Hume and Early Modern Philosophy is a collection of essays that are all concerned with major figures and topics in the early modern philosophy. Most of the essays are concerned, more specifically, with the philosophy of David Hume (1711-1776). The sixteen essays included in this collection are divided into five parts. These parts are arranged under the headings of: (1) Metaphysics and Epistemology; (2) Free Will and Moral Luck; (3) Ethics, Virtue and Optimism; (4) Skepticism, Religion and Atheism; and (...)
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  20. David Hume e o hiato entre o ponto e a linha: os princípios da dimensão espacial (3rd edition).Marcos César Seneda - 2021 - Principia: An International Journal of Epistemology 25:515-538.
    The aim of this paper is to present the copy principle from execution of the principle of separability for the purpose of elucidating the discussions conducted by Hume in understanding the composition of space and its implications for the sciences that operate with spatial constructions. The particular epistemic gain here is to do this within a model of empiricism. Given that there are several irregularities in the manner of analyzing a complex and extracting simple elements from it, as will be (...)
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  21. 13. David Hume: Sein Pyrrhonismus und seine Kritik des Pyrrhonismus.Richard Popkin - 1997 - In Jens Kulenkampff (ed.), David Hume: Eine Untersuchung Ber den Menschlichen Verstand. Akademie Verlag. pp. 215-251.
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  22. 10. Der „wunderbare Instinkt” der Vernunft.Hans-Peter Schütt - 1997 - In Jens Kulenkampff (ed.), David Hume: Eine Untersuchung Ber den Menschlichen Verstand. Akademie Verlag. pp. 153-176.
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  23. 8. Von der Vorstellung der notwendigen Verknüpfung.Bertram Kienzle - 1997 - In Jens Kulenkampff (ed.), David Hume: Eine Untersuchung Ber den Menschlichen Verstand. Akademie Verlag. pp. 115-133.
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  24. 9. Kausalität, Freiheit, Handlung.Jens Kulenkampff - 1997 - In David Hume: Eine Untersuchung Ber den Menschlichen Verstand. Akademie Verlag. pp. 135-152.
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  25. Hume, with Helps to the study of Berkeley.Thomas Henry Huxley - 1898 - New York,: Greenwood Press.
    Hume: Hume's life. Hume's philosophy.--Helps to the study of Berkeley: Bishop Berkeley on the metaphysics of sensation (1871). On sensation and the unity of structure of sensiferous organs (1879).
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  26. Il problema della verità da Spinoza a Hume.Vincenzo de Ruvo - 1950 - Padova,: CEDAM.
  27. The Skeptical Challenges of Hume and Berkeley: Can They Be Answered?Michael Tooley - 2011 - Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 85 (2):27-46.
    My topic is the skeptical challenges that are posed by Hume and Berkeley. Can one show, contrary to what Hume claimed, that one is justified in projecting regularities that have held in the past into the future? Can one show that induction is justified? Or can one show, contrary to what Berkeley claimed, not only that the hypothesis that there is an external, physical world expresses a coherent proposition, but also one that is extremely likely to be true? -/- The (...)
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  28. Contribuições para uma teoria antropológica na leitura de Deleuze sobre Hume.Carlos Fernando Carrer - 2023 - Griot 23 (2):160-170.
    O propósito deste artigo é apresentar a teoria antropológica que deriva do processo de constituição da subjetividade tal como o encontramos na leitura de Deleuze sobre Hume. Entende-se por “teoria antropológica” uma teoria que busca responder ao problema das interações entre natureza e cultura, bem como compreender a posição que o ser humano ocupa no interior dessa relação. Faremos isso reconstituindo alguns passos de _Empirismo e subjetividade _(1953), primeiro livro de Deleuze dedicado ao pensamento de Hume, e através de incursões (...)
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  29. Empirisme et subjectivité.Gilles Deleuze - 1953 - Paris,: Presses universitaires de France.
  30. Hume e la scienza della natura umana.Mario Dal Pra - 1973 - Roma-Bari: Laterza.
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  31. Hume on Belief in the External World.Michel Malherbe - 2008 - In Elizabeth S. Radcliffe (ed.), A Companion to Hume. Oxford, UK: Blackwell. pp. 126–139.
    This chapter contains section titled: References Further Reading.
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  32. Hume on Miracles and Immortality.Michael P. Levine - 2008 - In Elizabeth S. Radcliffe (ed.), A Companion to Hume. Oxford, UK: Blackwell. pp. 353–370.
    This chapter contains section titled: Context: Irrelevant and Relevant Hume's Argument against Justified Belief in Miracles Explained Immortality References Further Reading.
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  33. Hume in the Enlightenment Tradition.Stephen Buckle - 2008 - In Elizabeth S. Radcliffe (ed.), A Companion to Hume. Oxford, UK: Blackwell. pp. 19–37.
    This chapter contains section titled: References Further Reading.
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  34. Is Hume a Realist or an Anti‐Realist?P. J. E. Kail - 2008 - In Elizabeth S. Radcliffe (ed.), A Companion to Hume. Oxford, UK: Blackwell. pp. 441–456.
    This chapter contains section titled: Introduction Meaning and the Copy Principle External Objects Causal Power The Self and Necessary Connection Acknowledgments References.
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  35. Hume's Epistemological Legacy.William Edward Morris - 2008 - In Elizabeth S. Radcliffe (ed.), A Companion to Hume. Oxford, UK: Blackwell. pp. 457–476.
    This chapter contains section titled: The Problem of Induction: Hume's Problem The Regularity Theory of Causation Hume and Cognitive Science Hume and Naturalized Epistemology Hume as anti‐Metaphysician References Further Reading.
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  36. Hume's Naturalism and His Skepticism.Janet Broughton - 2008 - In Elizabeth S. Radcliffe (ed.), A Companion to Hume. Oxford, UK: Blackwell. pp. 423–440.
    This chapter contains section titled: Introduction Hume's Naturalism Hume's Skepticism The Relation between Hume's Naturalism and His Skepticism Skepticism and Naturalism after the Treatise References Further Reading.
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  37. David Hume.Marina Frasca-Spada - 2002 - In Steven Nadler (ed.), A Companion to Early Modern Philosophy. Malden, MA, USA: Blackwell. pp. 483–504.
    This chapter contains section titled: Hume's Legacy Sense Impressions, Passions and Ideas The Idea of Cause and Effect Probability and the Inference from Past to Future (Moderate) Skepticism Moral Feelings Human Nature and Religious Beliefs.
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  38. Introduction.Saul Traiger - 2006 - In The Blackwell Guide to Hume's Treatise. Oxford, UK: Blackwell. pp. 1–2.
  39. The Treatise: Composition, Reception, and Response.John P. Wright - 2006 - In Saul Traiger (ed.), The Blackwell Guide to Hume's Treatise. Oxford, UK: Blackwell. pp. 5–25.
    This chapter contains section titled: Reception of the Treatise by Francis Hutcheson and Hume's Revisions to Book 3 The Early Reviews of the Treatise and Hume's Response The Principal's Attack in 1745 and Hume's Defence in his Letter from a Gentleman Criticisms of the Treatise after Publication of the Enquiries Thomas Reid's Criticisms of Hume's Philosophy and Hume's Response Hume's Repudiation of the Treatise Conclusion Notes References Further reading.
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  40. Kant's Debt to the British Empiricists.Wayne Waxman - 2006 - In Graham Bird (ed.), A Companion to Kant. Malden, MA, USA: Blackwell. pp. 93–107.
    This chapter contains sections titled: Locke: Sensibilism and Subjectivism Berkeley and Hume: The Separability Principle and the Paradox of Necessary Relations.
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  41. The Soul in Locke, Butler, Reid, Hume, and Kant.Stewart Goetz & Charles Taliaferro - 2011 - In A Brief History of the Soul. Oxford, UK: Wiley‐Blackwell. pp. 105–130.
    This chapter contains sections titled: Locke Butler Reid Hume Kant.
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  42. H is for Hume's Shades.Martin Cohen - 2005 - In Wittgenstein's Beetle and Other Classic Thought Experiments. Oxford, UK: Blackwell. pp. 37–40.
    This chapter contains section titled: Discussion.
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  43. On Believing: Being Right in a World of Possibilities. [REVIEW]Simon Wimmer - 2023 - Philosophical Quarterly 73 (3):926-928.
    David Hunter starts his book with Anscombe's remark that the difficulty of accommodating belief's psychological and logical aspects makes it the most difficult.
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  44. David Hume: the Newtonian philosopher.Nicholas Capaldi - 1975 - Boston: Twayne.
  45. The Second Analogy Revisited: Did Kant Refute Hume?Robert Elliott Allinson - 1977 - Journal of Philosophy of the West Virginia Philosophical Association 1.
  46. El conocimiento del mundo externo y el problema crítico en Leibniz y en Hume.Jaime de Salas Ortueta - 1977 - Granada: Universidad, Departamento de Filosofía.
  47. Hume and Wittgenstein’s on Human Nature.Robert J. Fogelin - 2010 - In Jesús Padilla Gálvez (ed.), Philosophical Anthropology: Wittgenstein's Perspective. De Gruyter. pp. 33-46.
  48. A Treatise of Human Nature: Being an Attempt to Introduce the Experimental Method of Reasoning into Moral Subjects.Angela Coventry (ed.) - 2023 - Peterborough, CA: Broadview Press.
    In his autobiography, David Hume famously noted that _A Treatise of Human Nature_ “fell dead-born from the press.” Yet it is now widely regarded as one of the greatest philosophical works written in the English language. Within, Hume offers an empirically informed account of human nature, addressing a range of topics such as space, time, causality, the external world, personal identity, passions, freedom, necessity, virtue, and vice. This edition includes not only the full text of the Treatise but also Hume’s (...)
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  49. Egoismus und Sympathie: David Humes Gesellschafts- u. Erkenntnistheorie.Johannes Rohbeck - 1978 - New York: Campus-Verlag.
  50. David Hume: e. Einf. in seine Philosophie.Edward Craig - 1979 - Frankfurt am Main: Klostermann.
    Der Verfasser legt einen Kommentar vor, der allen Lesern von Humes erkenntnistheoretischen Schriften hilfreich sein wird; auch werden zentrale Aspekte seiner Moral- und Religionsphilosophie vorgefuhrt und diskutiert. Dabei wird ein Gesamtbild der Philosophie Humes entwickelt und in den Zusammenhang des zeitgenossischen europaischen Denkens gestellt. Hier bekampft der Verfasser die gelaufige Interpretation, derzufolge Hume als der konsequente Zerstorer des Empirismus gilt; Humes Ziel sei eher die Widerlegung einer Weltauffassung, die fast allen Philosophen seiner Epoche, Empiristen und Rationalisten, gemeinsam war. In einem (...)
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