David Hume is often considered to have been a sceptic, particularly in his conception of the individual's knowledge of the external world. However, a closer examination of his works gives a much different impression of this aspect of Hume's philosophy, one that is due for a thorough scholarly analysis. This study argues that Hume was, in fact, a critical realist in the early twentieth-century sense, a period in which the term was used to describe the epistemological and ontological theories of such philosophers as Roy Wood Sellars and Bertrand Russell.
Carefully situating Hume in his historical context, that is, relative to Aristotelian and rationalist traditions, Fred Wilson makes important and unique insights into Humean philosophy. Analyzing key sections of the Treatise, the Enquiry, and the Dialogues concerning Natural Religion, Wilson offers a deeper understanding of Hume by taking into account the philosopher's theories of the external world. Such a reading, the author explains, is not only more faithful to the texts, but also reinforces the view of Hume as a critical realist in light of twentieth-century discussions between externalism and internalism, and between coherentists and foundationalists.
Complete with original observations and ideas, this study is sure to generate debates about Humean philosophy, critical realism, and the limits of perceptual knowledge.
Authors
- Bibliography, etc. Note
- Includes bibliographical references (p. [771]-786) and index
- Control Number Identifier
- CaOOCEL
- Dewey Decimal Classification Number
- 192
- Dewey Decimal Edition Number
- 22
- General Note
- Issued as part of the desLibris books collection
- ISBN
- 9780802097644 9781442688070
- LCCN
- B1498
- LCCN Item number
- W45 2007eb
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- CaBNVSL
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- CaOONL
- Physical Description | Extent
- 1 electronic text (xiv, 809 p.)
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- Canada
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- CaOOCEL
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- Access restricted to authorized users and institutions
- System Control Number
- (CaBNVSL)slc00224376 (OCoLC)635461158 (CaOOCEL)430776
- System Details Note
- Mode of access: World Wide Web
- Title proper/short title
- Hume's critical realism, an exposition and a defence
- Transcribing agency
- CaOONL
Table of Contents
- Contents 8
- Acknowledgments 12
- Note on References 14
- Introduction 18
- 1 Abstract Ideas and Other Linguistic Rules in Hume 36
- A. Language and Hume's Moral Theory 38
- B. Introspective Psychology, Associationism, and Introspective Analysis 62
- C. How Thought Becomes General: Abstract Ideas, Images, Learning, and Rules of Language 84
- D. The 'New Hume' versus the 'Old' 103
- Appendix: Hume and Cognitive Psychology 130
- 2 The Waning of Scientia 146
- A. The Aristotelian Framework 147
- B. Perception 153
- I. The Problem of Perception 155
- II. The Aristotelian Solution to the Problem of Perception 159
- III. Unsolved Problems 160
- IV. What Next? 160
- C. Montaigne 162
- D. Descartes (i): The External World 166
- E. Descartes (ii): Perception 173
- F. Abstract Ideas Re-evaluated 178
- G. Knowledge Re-evaluated 188
- H. Berkeley (i): Antirepresentationalism 193
- I. Berkeley (ii): Realism 196
- Note: Why, Given Berkeley's Realism, Are Some Appearances Said to Be Real When Others Are Not? 213
- J. Berkeley (iii): Idealism 219
- K. Whither Minds? 227
- L. Truth 256
- 3 Geometry as Scientia and as Applied Science: Hume's Empiricist Account of Geometry 269
- A. Extension and Its Idea 272
- B. Infinite Divisibility 280
- C. Our Idea of Infinity 284
- D. Real Extension out of Extensionless Points 287
- E. Ideal Equality, Ideal Figures: Scientia Criticized 298
- 4 Hume's Defence of Empirical Science 321
- A. Hume against Rationalism 322
- B. Hume's Defence of Scientific Inference 330
- Note: Hume's 'Rules by Which to Judge of Causes and Effects' 334
- C. Science versus Superstition 336
- D. Science as Cognitive Virtue 341
- 5 Hume on Testimony and Its Epistemological Problems 347
- A. Testimony in Hume: Some Epistemological Problems 348
- B. A Wrong Model of Empiricism 351
- C. Autonomous Thinkers 355
- D. Social Context: Language and Testimony 360
- E. Testing Testimony 365
- F. The Responsible Knower 375
- 6 Knowledge 382
- A. After Scientia: What Knowledge Becomes and Problems with It 390
- I. Knowledge as Justified True Belief 390
- II. Coherence and Justification 393
- III. Objective versus Subjective 396
- IV. Knowledge by Accident 398
- B. Reliablism and Externalism 399
- C. Coherentism 407
- D. Experience and Justification (i): Radical Contingency 415
- E. Experience and Justification (ii): Reasonable Acceptance 429
- F. Experience and Justification (iii): Perception 451
- 7 Naturalism and Scepticism 462
- A. Defending Common Sense 462
- B. The Role of a Principle of Acquaintance in Ontology 470
- I. Hume and PA 479
- II. Moore and PA 487
- III. Reid and PA 504
- C. The Role of a Principle of Acquaintance in Epistemology 513
- I. Logical Atomism 514
- II. Truth Again: First Person and Third Person 525
- D. Scepticism and Naturalism 533
- E. The Dream Problem, Again 539
- 8 Hume's Critical Realism 551
- A. Once Again: The Charge of Scepticism 553
- B. Realism New and Critical 557
- C. Hume's New Realism: The System of the Vulgar; or, Hume's Berkeleyan Realism 561
- D. Continuity, Continuants, and Identity 577
- I. Continuing Existence and Continuants 579
- II. Filling Perceptual Gaps and Continuants 581
- III. More on Identity 586
- IV. An Analogous Case: The Missing Shade of Blue 590
- V. Several Concluding Non-sceptical Remarks 593
- E. Hume's Causal Inference to Critical Realism 594
- F. The System of the Vulgar as False, Inevitable, and Reasonable 605
- G. The World of the Philosophers 613
- H. A Tentative First Conclusion 623
- I. Hume's Doubts 630
- J. The Resolution of Hume's Doubts 637
- K. The Reasonableness of the System of the Philosophers 642
- L. Four Objections 648
- I. Inferring Unperceived Causes 648
- II. Cleanthes 678
- III. Lending a Hand to Hylas 688
- IV. The Enquiry Version 695
- M. Conclusion. David Hume: Critical Realist 703
- Notes 708
- Bibliography 786
- Index 802
- A 802
- B 803
- C 804
- D 806
- E 807
- F 808
- G 808
- H 809
- I 811
- J 813
- K 813
- L 814
- M 815
- N 816
- O 816
- P 817
- Q 819
- R 819
- S 821
- T 823
- U 823
- V 823
- W 824
- Y 824
- Z 824
