David Hume (1711-1776)

David Hume (1711-1776) is a person.

• AKA: The Great Infidel, Newton of the Moral Sciences.
• Context:
  • It can range from being a Traditional Philosopher to being a Scientific Philosopher, depending on philosophical methodology.
  • It can range from being a Historical Writer to being a Philosophical Pioneer, based on intellectual contribution.
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  • It can (typically) advance empirical philosophy through psychological observation.
  • It can (typically) analyze human nature through experimental method.
  • It can (typically) challenge religious belief through rational skepticism.
  • It can (typically) influence moral philosophy through sentiment theory.
  • ...
  • It can (often) examine causation through constant conjunction analysis.
  • It can (often) investigate personal identity through bundle theory framework.
  • It can (often) explore free will through compatibilist perspective.
  • It can (often) study moral judgment through sentiment-based ethics.
  • ...
  • They can be known for David Hume Publications, such as:
    • "A Treatise of Human Nature" which establishes his naturalistic philosophy.
    • "An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding" which refines his epistemological theory.
    • "Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion" which critiques theological arguments.
    • "Essays: Moral, Political, and Literary" which applies his philosophical method to practical issues.
    • ...
  • They can be known for David Hume Quotes, such as:
    • "Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them." which encapsulates his revolutionary view that emotions, not reason, drive human behavior.
    • "Custom is the great guide to human life." which summarizes his foundational insight about the role of habit and experience in human understanding.
    • "Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them." which expresses his empiricist view that our perceptions shape our reality.
    • "A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence." which captures his commitment to philosophical skepticism and empirical method.
    • "No testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind, that its falsehood would be more miraculous than the fact which it endeavors to establish." which demonstrates his rigorous approach to evaluating supernatural claims.
    • "Human Nature is the only science of man; and yet has been hitherto the most neglected." which outlines his pioneering focus on studying human nature scientifically.
    • "To hate, to love, to think, to feel, to see; all this is nothing but to perceive." which summarizes his fundamental empiricist philosophy about the nature of human experience.
    • "Truth springs from argument amongst friends." which reflects his view on the social nature of philosophical inquiry and knowledge discovery.
    • "Be a philosopher but, amid all your philosophy be still a man." which emphasizes his commitment to making philosophy relevant to practical life.
    • "The life of man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of an oyster." which illustrates his naturalistic view of human existence within the broader natural world.
  • ...
• Example(s):
  • Hume, 1730s, during which he wrote his masterwork "A Treatise of Human Nature".
  • Hume, 1740s, when he published his "Essays Moral and Political" and revised his ideas.
  • Hume, 1750s, as he developed his economic and political theories.
  • Hume, 1760s, while writing his "History of England" and gaining recognition.
  • Hume, 1770s, when he completed "Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion" and achieved lasting influence.
  • ...
• Counter-Example(s):
  • Adam Smith (1723-1790), who focused on economic theory rather than epistemology.
  • Bernard Mandeville, who took a more cynical approach to human nature.
  • Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), who developed transcendental idealism in response to Hume's skepticism.
  • John Locke (1632-1704)‎, who maintained belief in innate ideas and natural law.
  • George Berkeley, who defended idealism against empiricism.
  • Rene Descartes, who championed rationalism over empirical observation.
• See: Philosopher, Empiricism, Philosophical Skepticism, British Empiricism, A Treatise of Human Nature, Naturalism (Philosophy), Science of Man, The Enlightenment.

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References

2014

• (Wikipedia, 2014) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hume Retrieved:2014-8-17.
  • David Hume (25 August 1776) was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist known especially for his philosophical empiricism and scepticism. He was one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment. Hume is often grouped with John Locke, George Berkeley, and a handful of others 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 stark opposition to the rationalists who preceded him, most notably Descartes, he concluded that desire rather than reason governed human behaviour, saying: "Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions." A prominent figure in the sceptical philosophical tradition and a strong empiricist, he argued against the existence of innate ideas. He concluded instead that humans have knowledge only of things they directly experience. Thus he divides perceptions between strong and lively "impressions" or direct sensations and fainter "ideas", which are copied from impressions. He developed the position that mental behaviour is governed by "custom", that is acquired ability; our use of induction, for example, is justified only by our idea of the "constant conjunction" of causes and effects. Without direct impressions of a metaphysical "self", he concluded that humans have no actual conception of the self, only of a bundle of sensations associated with the self. Hume advocated a compatibilist theory of free will that 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. Hume also examined the normative is–ought problem. He held notoriously ambiguous views of Christianity, but famously challenged the argument from design in his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1777). Immanuel Kant credited Hume with waking him up from his "dogmatic slumbers" and Hume has proved extremely influential on subsequent philosophy, especially on utilitarianism, logical positivism, William James, philosophy of science, early analytic philosophy, cognitive philosophy, and other movements and thinkers. The philosopher Jerry Fodor proclaimed Hume's Treatise "the founding document of cognitive science”. Also famous as a prose stylist, Hume pioneered the essay as a literary genre and engaged with contemporary intellectual luminaries such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Adam Smith (who acknowledged Hume's influence on his economics and political philosophy), James Boswell, Joseph Butler, and Thomas Reid.

1758

• (Hume, 1758) ⇒ David Hume. (1758). “Essays: Moral, political, and literary.".
  • QUOTE: … Let us, therefore, rest contented with asserting, that two opposite vices in a state may be more advantageous than either of them alone; but let us never pronounce vice in itself advantageous. …

1738

• (Hume, 1738) ⇒ David Hume. (1738). “'A Treatise of Human Nature: Being an Attempt to Introduce the Experimental Method of Reasoning into Moral Subjects." ISBN:0-7607-7172-3

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