1st Edition

Hume's Scepticism and the Science of Human Nature

By Paul Stanistreet Copyright 2002
    238 Pages
    by Routledge

    238 Pages
    by Routledge

    This book explores the relationship between Hume's sceptical philosophy and his Newtonian ambition of founding a science of human nature. Assessing both received and 'new' readings of Hume's philosophy, Stanistreet offers a line of interpretation which, he argues, makes sense of many of the apparent conflicts and paradoxes in Hume's work and describes how well-known controversies concerning Hume's thinking about causation, induction and the external world can be resolved. Stainstreet argues that Hume's notorious sceptical arguments are not the episodic outbursts of an unsystematic philosopher, but emerge as part of his attempt to provide science and philosophy with grounds which face up to and withstand the scepticism to which reflective thinkers are naturally prone. Offering important new contributions to Hume scholarship, this book also surveys and assesses the new research responsible for the recent sea-change in thinking about Hume. It offers an accessible overview of these developments while suggesting significant revisions to current readings of Hume's philosophy.

    Contents: Preface; Introduction; Science and the study of human nature; Ideas and association; Causality, reason and causal inference; Hume and the new Hume; Hume’s scepticisim regarding the senses; Hume’s true philosophy and Reid’s common sense; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

    Biography

    Paul Stanistreet