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1135Remaking responsibility: complexity and scattered causes in human agencyIn Tangjia Wang (ed.), Proceedings of the 1st International Conference of Philosophy: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow, Global Science and Technology Forum. pp. 91-101. 2013.Contrary to intuitions that human beings are free to think and act with “buck-stopping” freedom, philosophers since Holbach and Hume have argued that universal causation makes free will nonsensical. Contemporary neuroscience has strengthened their case and begun to reveal subtle and counterintuitive mechanisms in the processes of conscious agency. Although some fear that determinism undermines moral responsibility, the opposite is true: free will, if it existed, would undermine coherent systems …Read more
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808Hume and Contemporary Political PhilosophyThe European Legacy (5): 588-602. 2013.Our goal in this article is first to give a broad outline of some of Hume’s major positions to do with justice, sympathy, the common point of view, criticisms of social contract theory, convention and private property that continue to resonate in contemporary political philosophy. We follow this with an account of Hume’s influence on contemporary philosophy in the conservative, classical liberal, utilitarian, and Rawlsian traditions. We end with some reflections on how contemporary political phi…Read more
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246Hume on Animals and the Rest of NatureIn John Hadley & Elisa Aaltola (eds.), Animal Ethics and Philosophy: Questioning the Orthodoxy, Rowman and Littlefield International. 2014.This paper develops a Humean environmental meta-ethic to apply to the animal world and, given some further considerations, to the rest of nature. Our interpretation extends Hume’s account of sympathy, our natural ability to sympathize with the emotions of others, so that we may sympathize not only with human beings but also animals, plants and ecosystems as well. Further, we suggest that Hume has the resources for an account of environmental value that applies to non-human animals, non-sentient …Read more
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179Locke on consciousnessHistory of Philosophy Quarterly 25 (3): 221-242. 2008.Locke’s theory of consciousness is often appropriated as a forerunner of present-day Higher-Order Perception (HOP) theories, but not much is said about it beyond that. We offer an interpretation of Locke’s account of consciousness that portrays it as crucially different from current-day HOP theory, both in detail and in spirit. In this paper, it is argued that there are good historical and philosophical reasons to attribute to Locke the view not that conscious states are accompanied by higher-or…Read more
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137Locke, Hume and the Idea of Causal PowerLocke Studies 33 (2): 93-112. 2003.This paper has a modest, but important, aim: to gain a better understanding of the relationship between John Locke's and David Hume's theories of causal power in the operations of external objects. The task is important because it focuses on an issue involving these two philosophers astonishingly not much discussed amongst commentators. (edited)
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95The Early Modern Subject: Self-Consciousness and Personal Identity from Descartes to Hume, by Udo Thiel (review)Mind 121 (484): 1132-1135. 2012.In The Early Modern Subject, Udo Thiel explores early modern writings spanning approximately the seventeenth century to the first half of the eighteenth century on two topics of self consciousness, the human subject’s ‘awareness or consciousness of one’s own self’, and personal identity, the human subject’s tendency to regard one’s own self as the same identical self or person that persists through time (p. 1). The aim of the book is twofold. First, to provide an account of the development of se…Read more
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78Kevin Meeker's Hume's Radical Scepticism and the Fate of Naturalized Epistemology (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews. 2015.There may be general agreement that David Hume is some sort of sceptic, but the nature and extent of his scepticism remains a topic of considerable debate amongst scholars. Some scholars claim his scepticism undermines the pursuit of a more positive naturalistic program of a science of human nature, while others maintain that his scepticism is reconcilable with his naturalism. In his book, Kevin Meeker maintains that Hume is a "radical sceptic" of the sort who maintains that all human beliefs ar…Read more
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73Critical Review of Recent Introductory Works on Hume (review)Hume Studies 36 (2): 217-225. 2010.Simon Blackburn’s How to Read Hume, Robert Fogelin’s Hume’s Skeptical Crisis: A Textual Study and John P. Wright’s Hume’s ‘A Treatise of Human Nature’: An Introduction are all clear and highly readable works directed at audiences of students and other non-specialists. Given that all three of the authors are prominent and distinguished Hume scholars, I suspect these works will be of great interest to Hume specialists as well. This piece first summarizes the aims and methods of each book and next,…Read more
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69Hume's System of Space and TimeHistory of Philosophy & Logical Analysis 13. 2010.David Hume’s views on topics such as causation, free will, personal identity, scepticism and morals are without doubt all significant contributions to philosophy. However, his account of the origin and nature of our ideas of space and time has never been influential (Rosenberg 1993, 82). In fact, the account of space and time is generally thought to be the least satisfactory part of his empiricist system of philosophy (Kemp Smith, 1941: 287, Noxon 1973, 115 and Flew 1986, 38). The main reason is…Read more
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67The Humean Mind (edited book)Routledge. 2019.The Humean Mind aims to be the most comprehensive anthology available on Hume’s thought with essays spanning the full scope of Hume’s philosophy, as well as placing Hume in his own time and tracing his impact on the field from the 18th century up until today. Our goal is to represent the Humean mind’s place in the philosophical tradition and in contemporary philosophy. It covers all of the major topics on Hume, showcases the latest trends in Hume scholarship, and reflects how current research co…Read more
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65Hume's Theory of Causation: A Quasi-Realist InterpretationContinuum Books. 2006.Presents an interpretation of David Hume's account of what a 'cause' is. This book emphasises on the connections between Hume's theories of cause, space and time, morals, and aesthetics.
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59Review: P. J. E. Kail, Projection and Realism in Hume's Philosophy (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2008 (7). 2008.
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57David Hume on Morals, Politics, and Society (edited book)Yale University Press. 2019.A key figure of the Scottish Enlightenment, David Hume was a major influence on thinkers ranging from Kant and Schopenhauer to Einstein and Popper, and his writings continue to be deeply relevant today. With four essays by leading Hume scholars exploring his complex intellectual legacy, this volume presents an overview of Hume’s moral, political, and social philosophy. Editors Angela Coventry and Andrew Valls bring together a selection of writings from Hume’s most important works, with contribut…Read more
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49Review: New Essays on David Hume edited by Emilio Mazza and Emanuele Ronchetti (review)Hume Studies 33 (2): 348-351. 2007.
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45Character and Causation: Hume's Philosophy of Action by Constantine Sandis (review)Ratio 3 32. 2019.
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45Mixed Emotions in Life and Art: On Hume's Direct PassionsThink 19 (55): 75-83. 2020.This article is about David Hume's account of mixed emotions. Hume on mixed emotions is connected with Sir Isaac Newton's optical experiments and subsequent invention of the colour wheel, as well as more recently to Robert Plutchik's colour wheel of emotions.
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36Hume’s Empiricist Inner Epistemology: A Reassessment of The Copy PrincipleIn Alan Bailey & Dan O'Brien (eds.), The Continuum Companion to Hume, Continuum. pp. 38--56. 2012.Vivacity, the “liveliness” of perceptions, is central to Hume’s epistemology. Hume equated belief with vivid ideas. Vivacity is a conscious quality so believable ideas are felt to be lively. Hume’s empiricism revolves around a phenomenological, inner epistemology. Through copying, Hume bases vivacity in impressions. Sensory vivacity also concerns liveliness or patterns of change. Through learnt skillful use, it tracks change specific to intentional sense-perceptual experience, Hume’s “coherent a…Read more
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33Humean Eyes ('one particular shade of blue')Cogent Arts and Humanities 3 (1). 2016.Why do Humean eyes matter? The subject of David Hume’s eyes and face leads us into some unexpected curiosities connected with events in his life and written works. We outline the scholars’ propensity to describe the face of their favourite philosopher and spread upon it their personal reading of his life and writings. We ask questions about portraits, their resemblance to the original as a standard of beauty. We survey eighteenth-century physiognomy, and the humourous paradox of the “fat philoso…Read more
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33David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature (edited book)Broadview Press. 2023.In his autobiography, David Hume famously noted that A Treatise of Human Nature “fell dead-born from the press.” Yet it is now widely regarded as one of the greatest philosophical works written in the English language. Within, Hume offers an empirically informed account of human nature, addressing a range of topics such as space, time, causality, the external world, personal identity, passions, freedom, necessity, virtue, and vice. This edition includes not only the full text of the Treatise but…Read more
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32Hume's Sceptical Enlightenment (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Review. 2016.Review of Ryu Susato, Hume's Sceptical Enlightenment
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31Review of Donald Rutherford (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Early Modern Philosophy (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2007 (7). 2007.
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31The Delicate Causalist: Reply to My Critics on "Hume's Theory of Causation: A Quasi-Realist Interpretation"Manuscrito — Revista Internacional de Filosofia 32 (2). 2009.
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30David Hume, A Treatise of Human NatureBroadview Press. 2023.In his autobiography, David Hume famously noted that A Treatise of Human Nature “fell dead-born from the press.” Yet it is now widely regarded as one of the greatest philosophical works written in the English language. Within, Hume offers an empirically informed account of human nature, addressing a range of topics such as space, time, causality, the external world, personal identity, passions, freedom, necessity, virtue, and vice. This edition includes not only the full text of the Treatise but…Read more
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26Historical Dictionary of Hume's Philosophy (Second Edition)Rowman and Littlefield. 2018.The Historical Dictionary of Hume's Philosophy is the only Hume dictionary in existence. The book provides a substantial account of David Hume's life and the times in which he lived, and it provides an overview of his philosophical doctrines. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and over a hundred cross-referenced dictionary entries covering key terms, as well as brief discussions of Hume's major works and of some of his most important predecessors, contempor…Read more
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24Review of Hume's Moral Psychology and Contemporary Psychology, edited by Philip Reed and Rico Vitz (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews. 2018.
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24Ideas, Evidence, and Method: Hume’s Skepticism and Naturalism Concerning Knowledge and Causation by Graciela De Pierris (review)Journal of the History of Philosophy 54 (4): 678-680. 2016.De Pierris offers a reading that unites radical skepticism and normative naturalism as “two equally important and mutually complementary aspects of Hume’s philosophical position”. The “modern theory of ideas” shapes skepticism, and Newtonian methodology is the basis for naturalism. The “modern theory of ideas” holds that evidence for optimal human cognition is grounded in the “immediate acquaintance with ostensive presentations that are or have been given to the mind”. This is the “presentationa…Read more
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234. Of the Origin of GovernmentIn Andrew Valls & Angela Coventry (eds.), David Hume on Morals, Politics, and Society, Yale University Press. pp. 151-154. 2018.
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22Section 7: Of Qualities Immediately Agreeable to OurselvesIn Andrew Valls & Angela Coventry (eds.), David Hume on Morals, Politics, and Society, Yale University Press. pp. 63-70. 2018.
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22Hume’s System of Space and TimeHistory of Philosophy & Logical Analysis 13 (1): 76-89. 2010.Hume’s account of the origin and nature of our ideas of space and time is generally thought to be the least satisfactory part of his empiricist system of philosophy. The main reason is internal in that the account is judged to be inconsistent with Hume’s fundamental principle for the relationship between senses and cognition, the copy principle. This paper defends Hume against the inconsistency objection by offering a new systematic interpretation of Hume on space and time and illuminating more …Read more
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