DAVID HUME PHILOSOPHY

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DAVID HUME PHILOSOPHY
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Every day humans go through intense thinking processes. Humans wonder whether God exists, the
purpose of life, the action-making process. What makes actions right or wrong. The entire human
existence is looked upon as mysterious and everyday human beings try to answer different experiences
in life through logical or cognitive reasoning processes. The entire process where human beings pursue
knowledge, the truth, and wisdom is Philosophy. Whenever human beings indulge in deep thinking on
essential questions concerning the universe and ourselves, the possible limits of human knowledge their
values, and the real meaning of life, they are indulging in philosophy. The philosophical nature of
thinking is found everywhere globally. Philosophy represents the past, present, and past. The field of
Philosophy has been blessed with distinguished scholars from Plato, to Socrates to Aristotle 1. Based on a
selection of reputable philosophers from Sophia World and Ten great thinkers the paper settled on
Scottish Philosopher David Hume. The aim of this essay is to describe David Hume's philosophical views
giving an account of his philosophical contributions and a personal perspective on David Hume’s works.
David Hume
The great Philosopher David Hume was born on 7 th May 1711 in Edinburg Scotland. David Hume spent
the majority of his childhood in Ninewells. He came from a socially well-connected family but not
necessarily the wealthiest. At the age of two, David sadly lost his father 2. The death of David Hume’s
father left him and his siblings under the care of his mother Katherine Hume. Katherine Hume
recognized how unique her son David was gifted and allowed him to join his elder brother in the
university of Edinburg. Despite being only 11 years old, David Hume enrolled to study Greek, Latin,
Natural Sciences, History, Literature, and Philosophy. While attending the University of Edinburg, David
Hume found love in the field of Philosophy. The type of learning David Hume received both at home and
while at the University of Edinburg was aimed at impacting young people to the life of virtue. The life of
virtue would be under regulations by strict Scottish Calvinist scriptures. 3 David Hume's entire education
was surrounded by prayers and sermons. The prominence of prayers and sermons pushed David into
reading the entire publication on the Whole Duty of Man. The Whole Duty of Man was an Anglican
devotional tract detailing the duties of humans to God, fellow human beings, and present self. Some of
David Hume's most prominent works include the 1739 Treatise on Human nature, Essays on Political and
morals in 1742, and the 1748 Enquiry in relation to human understanding.
The Theory of the Passions
The Theory of the Passions
1 Gaarder, Jostein, and Paulette Møller. Sophie's World: A Novel about the History of
Philosophy. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2007. Hume, David. Inquiry Concerning
Human Understanding. J.B Bebbington, 1861. Digital file
2 Morris, William Edward, and Charlotte R. Brown. "David Hume." Stanford Encyclopedia
of Philosophy. April 17, 2019. Accessed May 07, 2021.
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hume/#pagetopright
3 Hume, David. The Philosophical Works of David Hume: Volume 2. BoD–Books on Demand, 2020.
Gauthier, David. "3. David Hume, Contractarian." In Moral Dealing, pp. 45-76. Cornell University Press,
2019.
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Just like many philosophers of his time, David Hume advanced the theory of human passions (emotions).
Based on the Treatise, according to David Hume passion should be categorized under the impression of
reflections as opposed to the proposed impressions of sensations. The Treatise Book Two opens up with
the taxonomy of different passion categories. Reflective impressions are divided into Calmness and
violence or Direct (joy, grief, desire, aversion, fear) and indirect (love, hatred, pride, or humility). Passion
is divided into calmness or violence. David Hume concedes that the distinction between calmness or
violence is distinct. The calm emotions are more of emotional feelings expressed by humans as a
response to pleasure or the pain that is associated with aesthetic and moral judgments 4. In contrast with
passions of calmness, violent passions the bulk of human emotions. The passion for Violence manifests
either directly or indirectly. Direct passions are aversion, desire, grief, and fear. Direct passions are
triggered immediately in response to good or bad actions. David Hume's logic on the theory of passions
heavily borrows from ancient Greek philosophies on Stoicism. On the theory of the passions, David
Hume's key argument is that all actions by humans must be triggered by passion. Actions can never be
motivated by reasoning rather by passions. Via the theory of passions, reasoning becomes completely
inert when it gets to the point of motivating conduct and without emotional intelligence, humans would
not engage in any action. Thus, based on Hume’s accounts, Reasoning will always be the slave of human
passions and can never be expressed in any other forms other than service and obedience to them.
Religions
David Hume’s religious beliefs were largely skeptical. During the 18 th century, religious critics were
subjected to imprisonment, censorship, or even murder. David Hume used rhetorical objectivity to
express his controversial religious beliefs. Hume left it upon his readers to decode between the lines on
the most controversial topics. During David Hume, enlightenment religion has two pillars of Christian
beliefs. The natural and revealed religion. Natural religions are based on the knowledge of God deduced
from human nature through the use of logic and reasoning. Typically, natural religion involves logical
proofs that explain the existence of God and nature. Revealed religion on the other hand is based on
Biblical accounts from the book of Revelations. David Hume attacks both the natural and revealed
religious fundamentals through his writings. Many modern critics considered David Hume to be an
atheist. Some of the shreds of evidence of David Hume's un- Christian-like doctrines and beliefs can be
traced to his point of view on miracles. David Hume attempted to do the separation of historical
methods from the given Biblical account on miracles. 5David’s work on superstitions and enthusiasm,
Hume is categorically supportive of the present religious views 6. Religious enthusiasts were considered
corrupters of Christianity. David Hume's work can also show extreme displeasure towards the catholic
church by making dismissals towards the standardized accusations by protestants pertaining to idolatry
2019.
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and superstitions. David Hume's account of miracles was that humans should not blindly believe in
miracles. The problem of miracles from Hume’s perspective was that humans should not believe in the
occurrence of miracles and that miracles did not provide an actual account of the existence of God.
David Hume accounts on the enquiry concerning humans, David Hume defines miracles as transgressions
of natural laws by specific volitions of the deity through the interposition of invisible agents 7. Therefore,
Hume beliefs events that frequently occurred are likely to reoccur but it is important to account for the
instances where events failed to occur8.
David Hume's views on Epistemology, Religion, Morals, theory of passions, Aesthetics, politics, and the
economy have played a key role in modern-day Philosophy. While I might agree with a majority of his
views, as a firm believer in religion, I do find some of David Hume's views questioning the existence of
God as conflicting. The world we live in came with God; God is the creator of the universe. God is
omnipotent, omniscient and omnipotent. In the beginning, there was the word and the word was with
God, God then created the heavens and earth. The existence of a supreme being God is clear. Many
philosophers like David Hume put forward a lot of atheistic beliefs that disputed the existence of God.
However, from a philosophical point of view, it is important for philosophy enthusiasts to comprehend
that atheist beliefs required individuals to reject the notion of moral realism.
In conclusion, the Scope of David Hume's work has shaped modern-day religion, politics, and the
economy. David Hume's significant weakness was in epistemology because he was an empiricist. By
being an empiricist, David was extremely mechanical and reductionistic. David Hume published
controversial material that was only published due to British liberalism. Based on Hume’s way of
thinking, the loudest fanatics for liberty were Calvinistic worshippers whose only accomplishment was
dissention.
7 Wolff, Robert Paul, Plato., Plato., Plato., Aristotle., Anselm, Thomas, René Descartes,
David Hume, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, and William James. Ten Great Works of
Philosophy. New York, NY: Signet Classics, 2002.
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References
Gaarder, Jostein, and Paulette Møller. Sophie's World: A Novel about the History of
Philosophy. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2007. Hume, David. Enquiry Concerning
Human Understanding. J.B Bebbington, 1861. Digital file.
Morris, William Edward, and Charlotte R. Brown. "David Hume." Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy. April 17, 2019. Accessed May 07, 2021.
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hume/#pagetopright
Wolff, Robert Paul, Plato., Plato., Plato., Aristotle., Anselm, Thomas,, René Descartes,
David Hume, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, and William James. Ten Great Works of
Philosophy. New York, NY: Signet Classics, 2002.
Hume, David. The Philosophical Works of David Hume: Volume 2. BoD–Books on Demand, 2020.
2019.
Jordan, Alexander. "David Hume is pontiff of the world: Thomas Carlyle on Epicureanism, laissez-faire,
and public opinion." Journal of British Studies 56, no. 3 (2017): 557-579.
Crisp, Roger. "8. Hume on Virtue, Utility and Morality." In Virtue Ethics, Old and New, pp. 159-178. Cornell
University Press, 2018.
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The Theory of the Passions

The Theory of the Passions

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