Winner of the Journal of the History of Philosophy Prize for the Best Book on the History of Philosophy, 2008 Although it is widely recognized that David Hume s A Treatise of Human Nature ...
Used Book in Good Condition Although it is widely recognized that David Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature (1729-40) belongs among the greatest works of philosophy, there is little aggreement about the correct way to interpret his fundamental intentions.The solution to this riddle depends on challenging another, closely related, point of orthodoxy: namely, that before Hume published the Treatise he removed almost all material concerned with problems of religion. Russell argues, contrary to this view, that irreligious aims and objectives are fundamental to the Treatise and account for its underlying unity and coherence. It is Hume's basic anti-Christian aims and objectives that serve to shape and direct both his skeptical and naturalistic commitments. When Hume's arguments are viewed from this perspective we can solve, not only puzzles arising from his discussion of various specific issues, we can also explain the intimate and intricate connections that hold his entire project together.This "irreligious" interpretation provides a comprehensive fresh account of the nature of Hume's fundamental aims and ambitions in the Treatise. It also presents a radically different picture of the way in which Hume's project was rooted in the debates and controversies of his own time, placing the Treatise in an irreligious or anti-Christian philosophical tradition that includes Hobbes, Spinoza and freethinking followers. Considered in these terms, Hume's Treatise constitutes the crowning achievement of the Radical Enlightenment.
^Paul RussellThe Riddle of Hume's Treatise : Skepticism, Naturalism, and Irreligion by Paul Russell (2010, Paperback)ISBN 9780199751525 (revised Nov 2015)
^Russell, Paul (2014). The Riddle of Hume's Treatise Skepticism, Naturalism, and Irreligion, Oxford University Press, USA. BiggerBooks. ISBN 9780199751525 (revised Jan 2024)
^Paul RussellThe Riddle of Hume's Treatise: Skepticism, Naturalism, and Irreligion, Oxford University Press. Amazon. ISBN 9780199751525 (revised Nov 2015)
^ (2013). The Riddle of Hume's Treatise; Skepticism, Naturalism, and IrreligionECampus. ISBN 9780199751525 (revised May 2015)
This book is an outstanding contribution to philosophical scholarship. I would even go so far as to say that it is the most important work on Hume since Kemp Smith's influential study published in 1941. What we have here is a radical new interpretation of Hume's greatest work, A Treatise of Human Nature. It is well known that Hume's later works included major criticisms of religion. But the Treatise, his earliest work (published before Hume turned ..
In his day and thereafter Hume has been widely known in many quarters as a notorious sceptic: the problem is to reconcile this with Hume's own stated ambition to produce a detailed science of human nature. The solution is to distinguish between an extreme (Pyrrhonian)scepticism and a mitigated (academic)scepticism. The extreme scepticism contends that we are forced to doubt almost everything because of a lack of rational justification. Hume argues that we must ..
