David Hume: Human nature and understanding

Australian historian of ideas and philosopher, the late John Passmore, reveals to us the important 18th century figure of David Hume, the Scottish skeptic who took John Locke’s empirical arguments to their logical conclusion (which Locke had neglected to do) and wound up doubting our ability to know anything at all! I personally enjoy Hume’s skepticism and his effective deflation of metaphysical pretensions – making philosophers quite nervous about their assumptions. According to Hume the ‘Age of Reason’ had clearly arrived at a dead end. His rigour, consistency, and, if I may add, his honesty has a lot of undeniable appeal in the 21st century as well.

John Passmore on Hume: Section 1

Part 1

John Passmore on Hume: Section 2

Part 2

John Passmore on Hume: Section 3

Part 3

John Passmore on Hume: Section 4

Part 4

John Passmore on Hume: Section 5

Part 5

Share this! :)
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

11 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
thinkthought
thinkthought
10 years ago

Good stuff here mate

philomajor
philomajor
10 years ago

Kant is killing me! Hume thankfully is less of a puzzle,,I don’t mean less of a philosopher,,,

Kiera F
Kiera F
10 years ago

in truth it is never easy to know what we know, and that we know.

StrangeDay
StrangeDay
10 years ago

Hume’s “An Enqury Concerning the Principles of Morals.” is an excellent read. Dense but worth the effort.

Subra
Subra
10 years ago

Hume, famously, was one of the few to befriend the strange Rousseau…throwing in some trivia.

bBoston
bBoston
10 years ago

I am doing a report on david hume’s critique on the design argument. however, powerpoint presentations are not allowed and i can’t think of any other creative way to present it! lollol

oldandwise
oldandwise
10 years ago

Kant on Hume “awakened me from my dogmatic slumbers”. Enough said.

nerdygal
nerdygal
10 years ago

excellent! sharing it

Andrea Carrera Posados
Andrea Carrera Posados
10 years ago

IMHO one of the more underrated philosophers and man of ideas. Philosophers really have to look before they leap.

Omar M
Omar M
10 years ago

Still trying to determine the philosopical theme in David Hume’s treatise on human nature book I,II, and III. Will take a while.

usha agarkar
usha agarkar
10 years ago

i luv these old british tv interviews :)