16030

SoSe 20: Introduction into Hume and British Empiricism

Karsten Schoellner

Comments

In this seminar we will discuss the writings of David Hume, the most prominent philosopher of the “Scottish Enlightenment”, on selected theoretical and practical issues and look at the larger context of “British empiricism” in which he worked. We begin with the problem of induction and the issue of skepticism about whether the past is a guide to the present, moving on to skepticism about liberty, the existence of the self and the outside world and Humean doubts about the limits of rationality and philosophy. In the second half we discuss Hume’s attempt to found moral and aesthetic reasoning on a purely natural and empirical view of human nature. All readings will be available on Blackboard; students will be expected to keep up with the reading and participate in the online discussions on the Blackboard forums about the topics or questions pertaining to that week’s text. close

Suggested reading

Berkeley, George. A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1982. Descartes, Renee. Meditations on the First Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986. Hume, David. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. Hume, David. An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1983. Hume, David. A Treatise of Human Nature. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Hume. Selected Essays. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. Locke, John. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1979. close