David Hume's Treatise of Human Nature

Sugden, Robert (2008) David Hume's Treatise of Human Nature. Topoi, 27. pp. 153-159.

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Abstract

This ‘untimely review’ of Hume’s Treatise is written as if the book had just been published. I use this fiction to argue that the Treatise is a more fundamental critique of the concept of reason than most readers have thought. Hume’s analysis of human reasoning is grounded in empirical psychology, in which he made significant discoveries. He presents a non-propositional theory of desires, in which choice can be neither rational nor irrational. He shows that the idea that reason has authority, either in morality or science, has no substance. I argue that this critique remains valid and is not self-defeating.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	hume,reason,untimely review
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Economics
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Economic Theory Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Behavioural and Experimental Social Sciences Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Competition Policy Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Behavioural Economics
Depositing User:	Gina Neff
Date Deposited:	13 Jan 2011 11:09
Last Modified:	22 Apr 2023 01:09
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/18411
DOI:	10.1007/s11245-008-9034-3

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