Routledge philosophy guidebook to Hume on knowledge

232 Pages·1999·0.708 MB·English

by  Hume, David, Noonan, Harold W

Routledge Philosophy GuideBook to
Hume
on knowledge

‘This book is written with admirable clarity, contains concise and
helpful historical background, examines all the major issues in Hume’s
epistemology including important sections of the Treatise which are all
too often skipped over, and gives a good sense of scholarly controversies
among commentators on the Treatise. It is an excellent introduction to
Hume for both undergraduates and beginning graduate students, and
contains material which should be of interest even to Hume scholars.’
Francis W.Dauer, University of California, Santa Barbara

‘This book gives us an accessible and philosophically sound discussion
of the main themes of Hume’s Treatise.’
R.S.Woolhouse, University of York

David Hume (1711–76) is one of the greatest figures in the history of
British philosophy. Of all of Hume’s writings, the philosophically most
profound is undoubtedly his first, A Treatise of Human Nature. Of the three
books that make up the Treatise, the first, in which he outlines the epistemology
and metaphysics underpinning his system, is universally acknowledged
to be his greatest intellectual achievement.
Hume on Knowledge thus provides us with a map to Book 1 of the Treatise
and sets out its principal ideas and arguments in a clear and readable way.
This book will enable any reader coming to the Treatise for the first time
easily to understand the importance of and intricacies inherent in Hume’s
thought.
Harold W.Noonan is a Reader in Philosophical Logic at the University
of Birmingham. He is the author of Objects and Identity and Personal Identity
(available from Routledge).
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Routledge Philosophy GuideBook to
O
Hume
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on knowledge
T

L
E
D
G
E

(cid:1) Harold W.Noonan
First published 1999 by Routledge British Library Cataloguing in
11 New Fetter Lane, Publication Data
London EC4P 4EE A catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library
Simultaneously published in the USA Library of Congress Cataloging in
and Canada Publication Data
by Routledge Noonan, Harold W.
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY Routledge philosophy guidebook to
10001 Hume on knowledge/Harold W.
Noonan.
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & p. cm.
Francis Group Includes bibliographical references
and index.
This edition published in the Taylor & 1. Hume, David, 1711–1776.
Francis e-Library, 2003. Treatise of human nature.
Book 1. 2. Knowledge, Theory of.
3. Philosophy of mind. I. Title.
© 1999 Harold W.Noonan B1489.N66 1999
128–dc21 99–14365
All rights reserved. No part of this
book may be reprinted or reproduced ISBN 0-203-01450-2 Master e-book ISBN
or utilised in any form or by any
electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, ISBN 0-203-22450-7 (Adobe eReader
or in any information storage or Format)
retrieval system, without permission in ISBN 0-415-15046-9 (hbk)
writing from the publishers. ISBN 0-415-15047-7 (pbk)
To the memory of Barrie Falk (1940–98)

C
Contents
o

n
t
e
Preface ix
n
1 Introduction: Hume’s life and work 1
Hume’s life and times 1
The structure of Book 1 of the Treatise and its t
place in Hume’s work 5
The place of the Treatise in the history of
philosophy: precursors, influences and effects 15 s
Aims and methods 33
2 Hume’s theory of the mind 51
The contents of the mind 51
Impressions and ideas 60
The Copy Principle and the missing shade of blue 62
The Copy Principle and empiricism 65
The association of ideas 71
Abstract ideas 75
Hume’s theory of thought 87
vii
CONTENTS
3 Causation, induction and necessary
connection 91
The grounds of belief and the role of causation 91
The idea of cause 96
The Causal Maxim 103
Inference from the observed to the unobserved 110
The nature and causes of belief 131
The idea of necessary connection 140
4 The external world 161
The continued and distinct existence of body 161
The vulgar and philosophical forms of the belief
in body 164
The causes of the vulgar form of the belief in body:
constancy and coherence 173
The role of identity 177
The philosophical belief in double existence 182
5 The self and personal identity 187
The fiction of personal identity 187
The reification of perceptions 192
The rejection of the substantial self 198
Hume’s account of the source of the mistake 201
Objections to Hume 205
Bibliography 213
Index 217

viii
Preface

In this book I present a study of the most important themes in Book
1 of Hume’s first, and greatest, work: A Treatise of Human Nature. The
exposition follows the order in which these themes appear in the
Treatise. Thus, after an introductory chapter outlining the background
to Hume’s thought and relating Book 1 of the Treatise to the rest of his
work, the second chapter examines Hume’s theory of the mind, as
found in Part I of Book 1; the third chapter is devoted to Hume’s
discussion of causation, induction and the idea of necessary
connection in Part III; and the remaining two chapters are concerned
with the most significant and influential of Hume’s discussions in
Part IV: Section 2, on belief in the external world, and Section 6, on
personal identity.
I am grateful to my colleagues at the University of Birmingham
for the patience with which they have read and commented on
successive redraftings of this material.
References have been given in general according to the Harvard
referencing system. However references to Locke’s An Essay Concerning
Human Understanding are by book, chapter and section. Other
occasional exceptions to the Harvard system are explained in the
bibliography.
H.W.N.
ix