Hume continues his evaluation of reason and passion by exploring the following subjects: Why reason and the passions can never be in conflict with one another Reason can still influence the passions, especially with false judgements When a clash occurs, it is actually the ‘calm’ passions that are in conflict with the stronger passions In […]
Hume
0061: Hume’s Treatise… Reason and Passions Part 1
In this series of posts I wanted to explore one of the key ideas from David Hume’s Treatise of Human Nature. Are our actions motivated by reason or passion? This discussion takes place in two of the three books that form part of the Treatise. In Book 2 Hume puts forth a general principle about the […]
0045: Hume’s Treatise… Book 3, Part 3 (Other Virtues and Vices)
BOOK 3 (‘Of Morals’) PART 3 (Other Virtues and Vices) Having dealt with the artificial virtues in Books 1 and 2, David Hume now turns to the natural virtues in Book 3. He starts by providing a brief recap on the natural virtues. These are the direct passions that directly impact pleasure and pain. Sympathy […]
0044: Hume’s Treatise… Book 3, Part 2 (Justice)
BOOK 3 (‘Of Morals’) PART 2 (Justice) Part 2 of Book 3 focuses on the artificial virtues, and justice in particular. Hume starts Part 2 by explaining why justice is an artificial virtue. Justice only exists due to the fact that humans live in communities and must therefore abide by social conventions. Hume starts the […]
0043: Hume’s Treatise… Book 3, Part 1 (Virtue and Vice)
BOOK 3 (‘Of Morals’) PART 1 (Virtue and Vice) The first section of Book 3 concerns itself with a highly contentious subject in philosophy, that of moral relativism. Does morality have an objective, a priori sense in which moral rules can be seen as eternal and unbreaking? Or is morality subjective, based more in individual sensations […]
0042: Hume’s Treatise… Book 2, Part 3 (Will and Direct Passions)
BOOK 2 (‘Of the Passions’) PART 3 (Will and Direct Passions) Having dealt with the indirect passions in Parts 1 and 2, Dave Hume now turns to the direct passions in Part 3. He starts by discussing another important concept in his philosophy, that of the ‘doctrine of necessity’. All human action whether moral or […]
0041: Hume’s Treatise… Book 2, Part 2 (Love and Hatred)
BOOK 2 (‘Of the Passions’) PART 2 (Love and Hatred) David Hume next focuses upon love and hatred. Similar to pride and humility, these are indirect passions formed by a double association of ideas and impressions. Unlike pride and humility, which are directed towards oneself, love and hatred are directed towards another person. Since love […]
0040: Hume’s Treatise… Book 2, Part 1 (Pride and Humility)
BOOK 2 (‘Of the Passions’) PART 1 (Pride and Humility) David Hume starts Book 2 of the Treatise of Human Nature by distinguishing between impressions of sensation (which arise from physical impressions outside of the mind, such as from sight, touch, etc) and impressions of reflection (which arise from impression formed within the mind, such as […]
0039: Hume’s Treatise… Book 1, Part 4 (Philosophical Systems)
BOOK 1 (‘Of the Understanding’) PART 4 (Philosophical Systems) Part 4 of the Treatise of Human Nature begins with David Hume again noting how unreliable our abilities to acquire knowledge are. Even mathematical proofs are not immune from scepticism, as one could easily have entered the wrong value into the formula (or used the wrong formula […]
0038: Hume’s Treatise… Book 1, Part 3 (Knowledge and Probability)
BOOK 1 (‘Of the Understanding’) PART 3 (Knowledge and Probability) David Hume starts Part 3 of the Treatise of Human Nature by re-iterating seven ways in which we formulate conclusions about the world. The first four relate to knowledge and certainty. Using intuition, we build up relationships between our impressions and therefore our ideas. In the […]