Topic:	Hume
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Guest:	Don Garrett, Professor of Philosophy, NYU
What is it?	David Hume's was a superb essayist, a brilliant philosopher, and a world-class bon vivant. His philosophical views in ethics, epistemology, aesthetics, and the philosophy of religion, though shocking to many in his own time, are enduring touchstones of modern philosophy, still required reading of every student of philosophy. Join John and Ken for a tour of a few of Hume's most startling ideas.

About the Guest

Don Garrett came to NYU in 2003 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was Kenan Distinguished Professor for Teaching Excellence. He has also taught at Harvard University and the University of Utah. He works primarily in early modern philosophy, with special interests in metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, and ethics. He is the author of Cognition and Commitment in Hume's Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 1997) and the editor of The Cambridge Companion to Spinoza (Cambridge University Press, 1996). He has served as co-editor of Hume Studies and as North American editor of Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie.

Some of his other publications include:

• "Locke on Transfer of Consciousness and 'Fatal Errors'," Philosophical Topics (forthcoming).
• "Spinoza's Ethics: The Metaphysics of Blessedness" in The Blackwell Classics, edited by Jorge Gracia and Greg Reichberg (London: Blackwell, 2003).
• "Spinoza's Conatus Argument," in Spinoza's Metaphysics: Central Themes, edited by John I. Biro and Olli Koistinen (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).
• "Précis" and "Reply to My Critics" [symposium on Cognition and Commitment in Hume's Philosophy], Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 61.1 (January 2001): 185-189, 205-215.
• "Owen on Humean Reasoning," Hume Studies 26.2 (November 2000): 291-303.
• "Benedict de Spinoza," in The Blackwell Guide to the Modern Philosophers: Descartes to Nietzsche, edited by Steven Emmanuel (London: Blackwell, 2000).
• "Teleological Explanation in Spinoza and Early Modern Rationalism," in New Essays on the Rationalists, edited by Charles Huenemann and Rocco J. Gennaro (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999).
• "Ideas, Reason, and Skepticism" [symposium on Cognition and Commitment in Hume's Philosophy ], Hume Studies 24:1 (April 1998): 171-194.

Listening Notes

David Hume's claim to fame was knocking reason out of its exalted position. Since ancient times, philosophers have thought that reason was the privileged method of finding the truth. He wrote that reason should be slave to the passions. Does Hume's philosophy destroy the rational basis for science and ethics? John thinks Hume's philosophy does not have these extreme consequences. Ken introduces Don Garrett, professor at NYU. Garrett says that Hume treated reason as something a psychologist could study and that he was the first philosopher who is interested in cognitive psychology.

Ken thinks that Hume's ethical views undermine morality. Garrett explains that Hume said that we need sentiments in addition to reason to act. Garrett contrasts Hume's ethical view with Kant's, saying that Hume's emphasizes human nature. What does Hume say about what we ought to do? Garrett says Hume thought you should start by finding out what kind of person you want to be. Hume thought education plays a big part in tempering moral views.

Why do we think that the future will be like the past? Hume famously argued that inductive arguments are not valid. Hume was a compatibilist, that is, he thought that determinism and free will are compatible. What are Hume's views on religion? He thought religion, on a whole, was a bad thing. How did Hume think we learn things? He thought that everything in our mind was either an impression of the senses or an idea. Reasoning about ideas and impressions produces knowledge. Finally, Ken concludes that Hume put an end to the rationalism of ancient Greek thought.

• Amy Standen the Roving Philosophical Reporter (Seek to 04:32); Amy Standen interviews people on the street on what they know about David Hume. She then interviews a retired professor at Stanford University.

• Conundrum (Seek to 47:08): Debra from Oregon asks: do the ends ever justify the means? Suppose someone makes a billion dollars through evil methods but uses the money to a good end. Is this wrong? How do we decide what the right end is?

Additional Resources

• The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

• entry on David Hume

 

• entry on Hume's moral philosophy

 

• entry on Hume's aesthetics

 

• entry on 18th century Scottish Philosophy

 

• The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on David Hume

• The website of the Hume Society

• The David Hume Project, which includes online versions of his most famous works

• A website about the Scottish Enlightenment

• The David Hume Institute, a public policy research organization

• Works by Hume:

• An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (Amazon) (Project Gutenberg etext)

• A Treatise of Human Nature (Amazon) (Project Gutenberg etext)

• Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (Amazon) (Project Gutenberg etext)

• An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals

• Secondary literature on Hume:

• Norman Kemp Smith's overview of Hume's philosophy with an introduction by Don Garrett, The Philosophy of David Hume

• A biography of David Hume, The Great Infidel: A Life of David Hume

• The Routledge Philosophers series book on Hume by Don Garrett

• The Arguments of the Philosophers series book on Hume by Barry Stroud

• The Cambridge Companion to Hume

• Jonathan Bennett's book, Locke, Berkeley, Hume: Central Themes