Bachelor Philosopher Number Five: David Hume

.

.

Bachelor Philosopher Number Five:

.

David Hume

.

.

..

( 1711 - 1776 )

.

Skeptic and empiricist

bachelor and atheist

.

The following encyclopaedia article is well-written and contains the basics of the important thoughts of David Hume and his contribution to knowledge and to philosophy. Remember, it was David Hume that woke up the Great Man himself, Emmanuel Kant, from his dogmatic slumbers. Read, for example, his thesis on the origin of ideas and matters related to causation. There are many quotes here from the Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding:

.

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

.

Here

.

Quotation here:

.

" The most important philosopher ever to write in English, David Hume (1711-1776) — the last of the great triumvirate of “British empiricists” — was also well-known in his own time as an historian and essayist. A master stylist in any genre, Hume's major philosophical works — A Treatise of Human Nature (1739-1740), the Enquiries concerning Human Understanding (1748) and concerning the Principles of Morals (1751), as well as the posthumously published Dialogues concerning Natural Religion (1779) — remain widely and deeply influential. Although many of Hume's contemporaries denounced his writings as works of scepticism and atheism, his influence is evident in the moral philosophy and economic writings of his close friend Adam Smith. Hume also awakened Immanuel Kant from his “dogmatic slumbers” and “caused the scales to fall” from Jeremy Bentham's eyes. Charles Darwin counted Hume as a central influence, as did “Darwin's bulldog,” Thomas Henry Huxley. The diverse directions in which these writers took what they gleaned from reading Hume reflect not only the richness of their sources but also the wide range of his empiricism. Today, philosophers recognize Hume as a precursor of contemporary cognitive science, as well as one of the most thoroughgoing exponents of philosophical naturalism. "

.

End quote from the above-noted source.

.

.

Further Reading

..

.

The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

.

..

.

The History of Economic Thought

.

..

David Hume

.

.

John Passmore and Bryan Magee

You Tube interview:

.

.

.

You can learn about how Hume treated the subject of religion by listening to the audio file below. On this site you will also be able to hear An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

.

.

Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion

.

Please be patient. The files may take time to load. Click David Hume below.

.

by David Hume (1711-1776)

.

.

In Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, philosopher David Hume examines whether belief in God can be rational. The work takes the form of a debate between three characters: Cleanthes, who argues that the existence and nature of God can be empirically verified; Demea, who argues that God is completely beyond human knowledge; and Philo, a philosophical skeptic widely thought to represent Hume’s own beliefs.

. Much of the debate centers around Cleanthes’ presentation of the analogical argument from design. According to this argument, the complexity and beauty of the universe can only be explained by inferring an intelligent designer, in the same way that one would infer a designer if one came across an intricately complicated machine. Philo presents several objections to this argument, with rejoinders by Cleanthes and occasional interjections by Demea. (Summary by Leon Mire)

.

You can read the Dialogues at the same time by clicking below:

.

Read the Dialogues here:

.

A good source of reading information about Hume is found on this website below. It is a comprehensive philosophy site loaded with worthwhile articles.

.

Evans Experientialism

.

Follow the links on this site and you can locate a David Hume page and read some related articles:

.

Here

.

Here are the links to the audio files that I mentioned:

.

and this title is found on a site called:

.

Philosophy Bites

.

See also this site:

..

Philosophy: The Classics

.

You can also listen to an hour long discussion of Hume here on

.

Philosophy Talk

.

.

Picture of David Hume taken from Wikipedia::

.

Here

.

.

.

.