David Hume's Critique of Infinity


Book Description

This new study of David Hume s philosophy of mathematics critically examines his objections to the concept of infinity, and his alternative phenomenalist theory of space and time as constituted by minima sensibilia or sensible extensionless indivisibles.




An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding


Book Description

"An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding" is a book by David Hume created as a revision of an earlier work, Hume's "A Treatise of Human Nature". The argument of the Enquiry proceeds by a series of incremental steps, separated into chapters which logically succeed one another. After expounding his epistemology, Hume explains how to apply his principles to specific topics. This book has proven highly influential, both in the years that would immediately follow and today. Immanuel Kant points to it as the book which woke him from his self-described "dogmatic slumber."




God and the Reach of Reason


Book Description

This book puts C. S. Lewis, David Hume, and Bertrand Russell in dialogue with one another.




Reason and Cause


Book Description

A cultural history of the concepts of reason and cause, showing that they are culturally and historically local.




Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion


Book Description

Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion is a philosophical work written by the Scottish philosopher David Hume. Through dialogue, three fictional characters named Demea, Philo, and Cleanthes debate the nature of God's existence. While all three agree that a god exists, they differ sharply in opinion on God's nature or attributes and how, or if, humankind can come to knowledge of a deity. In the Dialogues, Hume's characters debate a number of arguments for the existence of God, and arguments whose proponents believe through which we may come to know the nature of God. Such topics debated include the argument from design - for which Hume uses a house - and whether there is more suffering or good in the world (Argument from evil)




Hume's Problem


Book Description

This volume offers a solution to one of the central, unsolved problems of Western philosophy, that of induction. It explores the implications of Hume's argument that successful prediction tells us nothing about the truth of the predicting theory.




David Hume’s Humanity


Book Description

Scott Yenor argues that David Hume's reputation as a skeptic is greatly exaggerated and that Hume's skepticism is a moment leading Hume to defend common life philosophy and the humane commercial republic. Gentle, humane virtues reflect the proper reaction to the complex mixture of human faculties that define the human condition.




Hume and the Enlightenment


Book Description

While Hume remains one of the most central figures in modern philosophy his place within Enlightenment thinking is much less clearly defined. Taking recent work on Hume as a starting point, this volume of original essays aims to re-examine and clarify Hume's influence on the thought and values of the Enlightenment.




David Hume


Book Description

In his seminal Philosophy of David Hume (1941), Norman Kemp Smith called for a study of Hume &"in all his manifold activities: as philosopher, as political theorist, as economist, as historian, and as man of letters,&" indicating that &"Hume's philosophy, as the attitude of mind that found for itself these various forms of expression, will then have been presented, adequately and in due perspective, for the first time.&" Claudia Schmidt seeks to address this long-standing need in Hume scholarship. Against the charges that Hume holds no consistent philosophical position, offers no constructive account of rationality, and sees no positive relation between philosophy and other areas of inquiry, Schmidt argues for the overall coherence of Hume's thought as a study of &"reason in history.&" She develops this interpretation by tracing Hume's constructive account of human cognition and its historical dimension as a unifying theme across the full range of his writings. Hume, she shows, provides a positive account of the ways in which our concepts, beliefs, emotions, and standards of judgment in different areas of inquiry are shaped by experience, both in the personal history of the individual and in the life of a community. This book is valuable at many levels: for students, as an introduction to Hume's writings and issues in their interpretation; for Hume specialists, as a unified and intriguing interpretation of his thought; for philosophers generally, as a synthesis of recent developments in Hume scholarship; and for scholars in other disciplines, as a guide to Hume's contributions to their own fields.




Hume’s Philosophy of Religion


Book Description

Hume's Philosophy of Religion brings together for the first time the whole range of Hume's immensely important critique of religion. The major concern is with a clear discussion and presentation of philosophical issues wherever they occur in Hume's writings, but items in the history of ideas, questions of interpretation and biographical details are introduced when they contribute to an understanding of Hume's position. Already reviewed as a standard work on Hume on religion and as a good general introduction to Hume's thought, this new edition has been extensively revised and extended. '...it is hard to imagine how a study of Hume on religion could have been at once more comprehensive, accurate, readable and scholarly than this...it is strongly to be recommended to all who have occasion to study or to teach Hume in colleges or universities.' W.D.Hudson, Expository Times.