Stability and justification in Hume's treatise
"David Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature is famous for its extreme skepticism. Loeb argues that Hume's destructive conclusions have in fact obscured a constructive stage that Hume abandons prematurely." "In his review of Hume's applications of this epistemology, Loeb uncovers a stratum of psychological doctrine beyond associationism, a theory of conditions in which beliefs are felt to conflict and of the resolution of this uneasiness or dissonance. This theory of mental conflict is also essential to Hume's strategy for integrating empiricism about meaning with his naturalism. However, Hume fails to provide a general account of the conditions in which conflicting beliefs lead to persisting instability, so his theory is incomplete." "Loeb explores Hume's concern with stability in reference to his discussions of belief, education, the probability of causes, unphilosophical probability, the belief in body, sympathy and moral judgment, and the passions, among other topics."--BOOK JACKET. Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1 online resource (280 pages)
9781423722533, 9780195181043, 9780195146585, 9781281197153, 9780198033509, 1423722531, 0195181042, 0195146581, 1281197157, 0198033508
61362655
I. Contexts for Hume's Epistemological Projects II. Causal Inference, Associationism, and the Understanding III. Integrating Hume's Accounts of Belief and Justification IV. Unphilosophical Probability and Judgments Arising from Sympathy V. The Propensity to Ascribe Identity to Related Objects VI. Constancy and Coherence in I.iv. 2 VII. Difficulties-Contrived and Suppressed
Originally published: 2002
English