PHIL 2120 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Jeremy Bentham, Immanuel Kant, Personal Taste
23 Mar 2021
School
Department
Course
Professor
Ethics
PHIL*2120
Is Morality a Matter of Feeling or Attitude?
David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
Hume’s moral Theory
• David Hume ► one of the most important philosophers to write in English
• Was also an historian and an essayist
• During his lifetime was denounced as an atheist and a skeptic
• Influenced such later thinkers as Adam Smith, Immanuel Kant, Jeremy Bentham
and Charles Darwin
Life
• 1711: b. in Edinburgh, Scotland
• Studied history, literature, as well as ancient and modern philosophy at
University
• Moved to France to write and learned French
• Was familiar with the works of near contemporary thinkers like Descartes
• Wrote his famous Treatise of Human Nature while in France (completed in 1738)
• Returned to the UK to have it published
• Hume was regarded as a skeptic and an atheist
• Was therefore basically ineligible for academic jobs
• He therefore did other jobs to support himself > tutor, librarian, historian and
diplomat
• While living in France he frequented at the Parisian salons (Enlightenment social
gatherings/discussion groups)
• At these events that he met the famous figured of the French
Enlightenment (Diderot, D’Alembert, etc.)
• 1766: Hume returned to England with Jean-Jacques
Rousseau (1712-1778)
• This friendship did not last long (Rousseau was paranoid
about Hume’s intentions towards him)
• 1767-68: Hume living in London working as a bureaucrat
• 1769: returns to Edinburgh to work on his scholarship
• 1776: Dies of cancer
Important Works
1) A Treatise of Human Nature (1739-1740),
2) An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding (1748)*
3) An Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals (1751)
4) Dialogues concerning Natural Religion (posthumously published in 1779)
• We’ll focus on an Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals
An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
• Hume ► What is the source of morality?
• This is a controversial question
• Why?
• Answer = there are two sides to the debate:
Document Summary
David hume, an enquiry concerning the principles of morals. Hume"s moral theory: david hume one of the most important philosophers to write in english, was also an historian and an essayist, during his lifetime was denounced as an atheist and a skeptic. Influenced such later thinkers as adam smith, immanuel kant, jeremy bentham and charles darwin. Life: 1711: b. in edinburgh, scotland, studied history, literature, as well as ancient and modern philosophy at. Enlightenment (diderot, d"alembert, etc. : 1766: hume returned to england with jean-jacques. Rousseau (1712-1778: this friendship did not last long (rousseau was paranoid about hume"s intentions towards him, 1767-68: hume living in london working as a bureaucrat, 1769: returns to edinburgh to work on his scholarship, 1776: dies of cancer. An enquiry concerning the principles of morals: hume what is the source of morality, this is a controversial question, why, answer = there are two sides to the debate:
