Hume Literature Research Articles

The Concealed Influence of Custom: Hume’s “Treatise” from the Inside Out by Jay L. Garfield

Reviewed by: The Concealed Influence of Custom: Hume’s “Treatise” from the Inside Out by Jay L. Garfield John Christian Laursen Jay L. Garfield. The Concealed Influence of Custom: Hume’s “Treatise” from the Inside Out. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019. Pp. 302. Hardback. ISBN: 978-0-19-093340-1, $82. This book has at least two original and great merits. One is that it is one of the first in the Hume literature to be truly global. The other is that it gives custom and habit the place they deserve in Hume’s philosophy. Concerning the first of these, I think it would be widely admitted that most of the study of Western philosophy is done in blissful ignorance of non-Western philosophy. We follow what our thinkers are doing, and pay little or no attention to the rest of the world. In contrast, this book peppers the footnotes, and even some of the text, with comparisons to Buddhist schools and figures such as Madhyamaka, Candrakirti, Nagarjuna, and the like. We are not used to the idea that Western philosophers may have drawn some of their ideas from non-Western philosophy, although we have long known that Pyrrho traveled to India and may have taken ideas from the gymnosophists, and that later philosophers like Bayle and Leibniz were very interested in Chinese ideas. In Hume’s case, it is possible that there was some influence through Pyrrho and his followers, or that these were simply parallel developments. The latter are still of philosophical interest because they show how similar philosophies can develop from different roots. Of course, one of the reasons that most of us cannot compare a figure like Hume to Indian or Chinese philosophy is that we do not know the languages and have not been trained in those areas. In this case, Jay Garfield is the author of many works on Indian philosophy, including Engaging Buddhism: Why it Matters to Philosophy (2015), so he has authority in the matter. A work like this, drawing attention to many similarities and parallels in philosophy, could be followed up by some methodological work on how to compare philosophies from such different intellectual traditions. What do the parallels mean? Are there any deeper or wider conclusions that we can make about parallels that appear in very different philosophical traditions? Is convergence of ideas a confidence builder in their solidity and truth, or rather a reminder of common human tendencies to fallacy? If philosophy is ever going to join the ranks of truly global human enterprises, it will have to ask and answer these questions about far-flung philosophical traditions. The main argument of this book is that Hume is best understood as a Pyrrhonian philosopher who maintains that the foundations of our knowledge, ethics, and political practices may be found only in custom and habit. Book 2 of Hume’s Treatise is the key, providing a social account of the passions and our constructions of ourselves. “Custom is essential to the story,” the author writes (82). Nature makes [End Page 179] us develop customs together that start from passions and sympathy, and are drawn together by the imagination. On the basis of these social constructions of most elements of our lives, by the end of the book, Garfield is talking about Hume’s place in the “communitarian tradition” (279–80). If Book 2 is read before Book 1, one will realize that what Hume says about reason and ontology in Book 1 is rooted in his theory of the passions in Book 2, and thus always social. What Hume is doing is more like philosophical psychology (or the psychology of philosophy?) than epistemology, metaphysics, or moral philosophy, according to Garfield. Hume is asking why we believe what we believe in epistemology, metaphysics, and moral philosophy, not proving that any of these beliefs are true. Taking the title of Hume’s Treatise seriously, it is a book about human nature, not about Hume’s understanding of those philosophical subfields. Hume’s work is more descriptive than prescriptive. We can learn from it how we live, not how we should live, which is a matter for the development of customs over time...

A Delicacy of Empathy: Hhume's Many Meanings of Sympathy

The argument of this article is that Hume uses multiple definitions of “sympathy” and that they map closely to the multidimensional meaning of empathy, which distinguishes empathic receptivity, empathic understanding, empathic interpretation, and empathic responsiveness. The section on how Hume is relevant today uses “humanity” as a bridge between sympathy and empathy. A review of the literature on the debate about sympathy in the Hume literature is provided to establish what has been overlooked in the many meanings of sympathy, namely, receptivity, interpretation, and optimal responsiveness. These are then engaged in the sections on sympathy as receptivity to affects, interpretation, and optimal responsiveness, each correlated with the parallel aspects of empathy.

A Note about “The Hume Literature”

A Note about “The Hume Literature”

The Hume Literature, 2010

This bibliography covers the Hume literature for 2010, and follows upon the annual update begun by Rolland Hall for the years 1977 through 1985 and continued by William Edward Morris for 1986 through 2003. This installment, like previous ones, excludes items published in Hume Studies, which are indexed annually in each November issue. Readers of Hume Studies may contact me at jfieser@utm.edu with additions or corrections to any previous year, which can be noted in future installments. I am grateful to all who have provided input on an earlier draft of this bibliography that was posted on the Internet. Aside from the yearly bibliographies published in Hume Studies, readers may find the following bibliographical resources useful:

The Hume Literature, 2008

This bibliography covers the Hume literature for 2008, and follows upon the annual update begun by Rolland Hall for the years 1977 through 1985 and continued by William Edward Morris for 1986 through 2003. This installment, like previous ones, excludes items published in Hume Studies, which are indexed annually in each November issue. Readers of Hume Studies may contact me at jfieser@utm.edu with additions or corrections to any previous year, which can be noted in future installments. I am grateful to all who have provided input on an earlier draft of this bibliography that was posted on the Internet. Aside from the yearly bibliographies published in Hume Studies, readers may find the following bibliographical resources useful:

The Eighteenth-Century British Reviews of Hume's Writings

The Eighteenth-Century British Reviews of Hume’s Writings James Fieser The first printed reactions to Hume’s publications were usually book reviews which appeared in British, German, and French journals. Until recently, the most complete catalogs of these reviews were in T. E. Jessop’s A Bibliography of David Hume (1938), and E. C. Mossner’s The Life of David Hume (1954). 1 Since Jessop and Mossner, knowledge of the German reviews has advanced dramatically with two studies. First, Manfred Kuehn (1987) provides a comprehensive bibliography of references to Hume as they appear in Germany’s foremost eighteenth-century review journal, the Göttingische Anzeigen von gelehrten Sachen. 2 Second, Gunter Gawlick and Lothar Kreimendahl (1987) attempt a comprehensive analysis and catalog of eighteenth-century German discussions of Hume as appeared in both books and review articles. 3 These studies expand the list of German reviews of Hume from the five or so listed in Jessop and Mossner to several dozen. The German studies also suggest that more work is needed in cataloging the reviews from other countries, especially those from Great Britain. This essay will update the standard list of eighteenth-century British reviews of Hume’s writings by providing references to additional reviews which do not appear in the Hume literature. To Jessop’s list of eighteen British reviews, 4 thirteen new reviews are listed for first edition publications of Hume’s writings, and eight new reviews are listed for eighteenth-century abridgments and collections containing Hume’s writings. [End Page 645] A History of the Early British Review Journals The first European journal devoted exclusively to reviewing new books was the French Journal des Sçavans, founded in 1665. The journal focused on scholarly books, as opposed to popular publications, and the format of the articles consisted largely of extended excerpts from the book under review. This format was quickly adopted in Great Britain by newly founded review journals such as Weekly Memorials for the Ingenious (1682), The History of Learning (1692), The Complete Library (1692), and Memoirs for the Ingenious (1692). Most of these review journals survived only a few years and were frequently reincarnated with slight alterations in their titles. Because of their failure to tap into a stable readership market, the inconsistent appearance of the British review journals continued throughout the first half of the eighteenth-century. When Hume’s Treatise first appeared in 1739, the History of the Works of the Learned, edited then by Jacob Robinson, was the only review journal in publication. Like its forerunners, the History of the Works of the Learned had a fifteen-year checkered history of title changes and mergers with other journals (1728–43). The title “History of the Works of the Learned” was borrowed from a short lived early eighteenth-century journal by the same name. Typical of the review journals of the time, it was highly selective and focused only on scholarly publications. It is in this context that the History of the Works of the Learned reviewed Book I of Hume’s Treatise in 1739 and 1740. In a letter to Francis Hutcheson, Hume describes the review as “somewhat abusive.” 5 Indeed, the review contains a succession of sarcastic comments, such as “these are too dazzling for my weak Sight,” “our Author’s superlative Modesty,” and “A most charming System indeed.” Upon the publication of Hume’s Life in 1777, two writers commented on the demeaning tone of the review of the Treatise. The first notes that the review so highly provoked our young philosopher, that he flew in a violent rage, to demand satisfaction of Jacob Robinson, the publisher; whom he kept during the paroxysm of his anger, at his sword’s point, trembling behind the counter lest a period should be put to the life of a sober critic by a raving philosopher. 6 This story is countered by the second writer: We remember however, that it [i.e., the Treatise] was distinguished by the Reviewers of that time, though not in a manner suitable to the [End Page 646] expectations or wishes of the Author. It was treated with some degree of contempt by the Writer of the History...

The Hume Literature for 1985

The Hume Literature for 1985

The Hume Literature for 1983

The Hume Literature for 1983

The Hume Literature for 1982

167 THE HUME LITERATURE FOR 1982 The Hume literature from 1925 to 1976 has been thoroughly covered in my book Fifty Years of Hume Scholarship: A Bibliographical Guide (Edinburgh University Press, 1978; £9.50), which also lists the main earlier writings on Hume. Publications of the years 1977 to 1981 were listed in Hume Studies in previous Novembers. What follows here will bring the record up to the end of 1982. Readers are invited to inform me of any omissions, and to send me offprints of their own articles and reviews. The intention is to maintain a complete bibliographical record of critical work on Hume, by the regular publication in Hume Studies of an annual bibliography, with addenda consisting of items omitted through ignorance in previous years. References to recently-appearing reviews (of books from earlier lists) are given at the end. The following abbreviations of journal titles are used here: APQAmerican Philosophical Quarterly JHIJournal of the History of Ideas JHPJournal of the History of Philosophy JPJournal of Philosophy PASProceedings of the Aristotelian Society PBPhilosophical Books PQPhilosophical Quarterly PRPhilosophical Review RIPRevue Internationale de Philosophie RMReview of Metaphysics TLSTimes Literary Supplement Other abbreviations should be obvious enough, and mainly follow the British Standard (no. 4148). 168 AIKEN, H. D. 'The Originality of Hume's Theory of Obligation', Phil. & Phenomenol. Res. 42, 374-83. BADIA CABRERA, M. A. 'Milagro, testimonio y verdad. El significado de la crítica de Hume', Dialogos (Puerto Rico) 17, 37-52. BAIER, A. 'Hume's Account of our Absurd Passions', JP_ 79, 643-51. [652] BARON, M. 'Hume's Noble Lie: An Account of his Artificial Virtues', Can. J. Phil. 12, 539-55. BERRY, CJ. Hume, Hegel and Human Nature, pt. 2 (55124 ). The Hague, etc. [Hume Studies 9 (1983) 200-3] BERRY, CJ. 'Hume on Rationality in History and Social Life', History & Theory 21, 234-47. BUNZL, M. 'Humean Counterfactuals' , JHP 20, 171-7. CALLICOTT, J. B. 'Hume's Is/Ought Dichotomy and the Relation of Ecology to Leopold's Land Ethic', Environmental Ethics 4, 163-74. CAPALDI, N., KING, J. & LIVINGSTON, D. 'The Hume Literature of the 1970s', Philosophical Topics 12, no. 3, 167-92. COLWELL, G.G. 'On Defining Away the Miraculous', Philosophy 57, 327-37. DAVIES, B. An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion, 52-9 and 108-18. Oxford. DEL BARCO COLLAZOS, J. L. 'Evidencia y verdad en la epistemologia de Hume', Anuario filosófico 15, 175-84. DEL BARCO COLLAZOS, J. L. 'La teoría de la impresión en Hume', Anuario filosofico 15, 85-112. DRAPER, T. 'Hume and Madison: The Secrets of Federalist Paper No. 10', Encounter 58, (Feb.) 34-47. FARR, J. 'Humean Explanations in the Moral Sciences', Inquiry 25, 57-80. FERN, R. L. 'Hume's Critique of Miracles: An Irrelevant Triumph', Relig. Studies 18, 337-54. FITZPATRICK, J. 'Lonergan and Hume [I-IV: various aspects]', New Blackfriars 63, 122-30, 219-28, 275-86, 364-72. 169 FLAGE, D.E. 'Relative Ideas Revisited: A Reply to Thomas', Hume Studies 8, 158-71. FLAGE, D.E. 'Hume's Dualism', Nous 16, 527-41. FLEW, A. 'Another Idea of Necessary Connection', Philosophy 57, 487-94. FLEW, A. '"Hume on Space and Geometry": One Reservation ', Hume Studies 8, 62-5. [66-9] FORBES, D. 'Natural Law and the Scottish Enlightenment', in R. H. Campbell & A. S. Skinner, The Origins and Nature of the Scottish Enlightenment, 186204 . Edinburgh. FORCE, J. E. 'Hume and Johnson on Prophecy and Miracles: Historical Context', JH_I 43, 463-75. FRIEMAN, J. 'Boswell Confronts Hume: An Encounter with the Great Infidel', Free Inquiry 2, 22-5. GALGAN, G.J. The Logic of Modernity, 118-36 ('Hume: The Breakdown of Certitude'). New York S London. HALL, R. 'The Hume Literature for 1981', Hume Studies 8, 172-7. HALLER, R. Urteile und Ereignisse, 76-85 ('Humes Analyse'). Munich. HAUSMAN, A. 'It Ain't Necessity, So... (with Apologies to George Gershwin)', Hume Studies 8, 87-101. HILL, E. 'Hume and the Delightful Tragedy Problem', Philosophy 57, 319-26. HOERSTER, N. 'David Hume', in N. Hoerster, Klassiker des philosophischen Denkens, vol. 2, 7-46. Munich. JONES, G. E. 'Vindication, Hume and Induction', Can. J. Phil. 12, 119-29. JONES, P. 'Laughter', PAS...

The Hume Literature for 1981

The Hume Literature for 1981

The Hume Literature for 1980

184. THE HUME LITERATURE FOR 1980 The Hume literature from 1925 to 1976 has been thoroughly covered in my book Fifty Years of Hume Scholarship : A Bibliographical Guide (Edinburgh University Press, 1978; /7.00), which also lists the main earlier writings on Hume. Publications of the years 1977 to 1979 were liste in Hume Studies for the last three Novembers. What follows here will bring the record up to the end of 1980. Readers are invited to inform me of any omissions , and to send me offprints of their own articles and reviews. The intention is to maintain a complete bibliographical record of critical work on Hume, by the regular publication in Hume Studies of an annual bibliography covering the previous year, with addenda consisting of items omitted through ignorance in previous years. References to recently-appearing reviews (of books from earlier lists) are given at the end. The following abbreviations of journal titles are used here: APQAmerican Philosophical Quarterly JHIJournal of the History of Ideas JHPJournal of the History of Philosophy JPJournal of Philosophy PASProceedings of the Aristotelian Society PBPhilosophical Books PQPhilosophical Quarterly PRPhilosophical Review RIPRevue Internationale de Philosophie RMReview of Metaphysics TLSTimes Literary Supplement Other abbreviations should be obvious enough, and mainly follow the British Standard (no. 4148) . ALTMANN, R. W. 'Hume on Sympathy', Sth. J. Phil. 18, 123-36. ANDERSON, R. F. 'In Defense of Section V: A Reply to Professor Yolton', Hume Studies 6, 26-31. AYER, A. J. Hume. (viii, 102 pp.) Oxford. [TLS (9 May 1980) , 531] 185. BAIER, A. 'Master Passions', in A. 0. Rorty, Explaining Emotions , 403-23. BAIER, A. 'Hume on Resentment', Hume Studies 6, 133-49. BAIER, A. 'Helping Hume to "compleat the union"', Phil. & Phenomenological Research 41, 167-86. BERMAN, D. 'Hume and Collins on Miracles', Hume Studies 6, 150-4. BLONDEL, E. '"Wohin?", "Wozu?": Ein Kulturproblem. Wahrheit und Leben bei Hume und Nietzsche' [in French], Perspektiven der Philosophie 6, 70-89. BOTWINICK, A. Ethics, Politics and Epistemology : A Study in the Unity of Hume's Thought. (xii, 185 pp.) Lanham, Md. BREDE, W. Der Unterschied der Lehren Humes in Treatise und im Inquiry. (50 pp.) Hildesheim & New York. (unaltered repr. of orig. publication, Halle 1896) BRICKE, J.' Hume's Philosophy of Mind. (vi, 176 pp.) Edinburgh. BURCH, R. 'Bayesianism and Analogy in Hume's Dialogues ' , Hume Studies 6, 32-44. CALHOUN, C. C. H. 'The Humean Moral Sentiment: A Unique Feeling', S. -west. J. Phil. 11, 69-78. CHARRON, W. C. 'Convention, Games of Strategy, and Hume's Philosophy of Law and Government', APQ 17, 327-34. DAUER, F. W. 'Hume's Skeptical Solution and the Causal Theory of Knowledge', PR 89, 35 7-7 8. DOORE, G. 'The Argument from Design: Some Better Reasons for Agreeing with Hume', Religious Studies 16, 145-61. DUSSINGER, J. A. 'David Hume's Denial of Personal Identity: The Making of a Skeptic', Image 37, 334-. FEINBERG, J. Rights, Justice and the Bounds of Liberty, 307-14. Princeton, (repr. of Feinberg 1977) FLAGE, D. E. 'Hume's Identity Crisis', Mod. Schoolman 58, 21-35. FRANKLIN, J. 'More on Part IX of Hume's Dialogues ' , PQ 30, 69-71. 186. GAWLICK, G. 'Zwischen Empirismus und Skeptizismus: Neue Literatur zu David Hume (II) ' , Philosophische Rundschau 27, 59-84. (on Carabelli 1972, Mercer 1972, Roberts 19 73, Harrison 1976, Wayne & Colver 1976.) GILARDI, R. 'La natura epistemologica delle considerazioni humiane di Treatise , III, I, 1 su essere e dover essere', Rivista di Filosofia neoscolastica 72, 243-73. GRIFFIN-COLLART, E. 'Le bon David, âme républicaine, entre deux révolutions', Etudes sur le XVIIIe siècle 8, 35-46. HALL, R. 'The Hume Literature for 1979', Hume Studios 6, 162-8. HAMBOURGER, R. 'Belief in Miracles and Hume's "Essay"', Nous 14, 587-604. HEISMANN, G. 'Addenda to the Hume Bibliography: Austrian, German and Swiss Dissertations', Hume Studies 6, 168-70. IMMERWAHR, J. "Hume's Self Criticism', Sth. J. Phil. 18, 169-76. MacCORMAC, E. R. 'Hume's Embodied Impressions', Sth. J. Phil. 18, 447-62. MACKIE, J. L. Hume's Moral Theory. (viii, 166 pp.) London, etc. McRAE, R. 'The Import of Hume's Theory of Time', Hume Studies 6, 119-32. MALHERBE, M. Kant...

The Hume Literature of the 1970s

particular interest was the large number of books. But we begin by mentioning two books that are examples of what Hume scholarship ought not to be. The first is A. J. Ayer's Hume (1980). Antony Flew, in his own book on Hume (p. 119), comments that Ayer has produced a work which, remarkably, ap? pears to have found no profit in any of the previous forty years of Hume literature. The second egregious example is John Bricke's Hume's Philosophy of Mind (1980). We can do no better than to repeat Annette Baier's words in her review of Bricke {Ethics, January 1982), pp. 346-47:

The Hume Literature for 1979

The Hume Literature for 1979

The Hume Literature for 1978

The Hume Literature for 1978

The Hume Literature for 1977

The Hume Literature for 1977

The Hume Literature for 1976

94. THE HUME LITERATURE FOR 1976 A fairly complete coverage of the recent Hume literature up to 1970 is available in my booklet, A Hume Bibliography from 1930 (York, 1971; obtainable direct from the author, post free, on payment of jé 1.25 within the U.K., c^3.00 or $8.00 elsewhere). Coverage up to 1975 is obtained when this is combined with the addenda and supplement published in the Philosophical Quarterly in January 1976. What follows here will bring the record up to the end of 1976. Readers are invited to inform me of any omissions. The intention is to maintain a complete bibliographical record of critical work on Hume, by the regular publication in Hume Studies of an annual bibliography covering the previous year. In a forthcoming book (Edinburgh University Press; probable title, Fifty Years of Hume Scholarship) I have tried to provide all that the student of Hume needs as a guide to the secondary literature: an introductory essay on the development of Hume scholarship up to the present time, thorough coverage of the Hume literature from 1925 to 19 76, with indexing by author, language, and subject, and also a list of the main writings on Hume earlier this century. The following abbreviations of journal titles have been used: APQ American Philosophical Quarterly JHI Journal of the History of Ideas JHP Journal of the History of Philosophy JP Journal of Philosophy PAS Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society PB Philosophical Books PBA Proceedings of the British Academy PQ Philosophical Quarterly PR Philosophical Review RIP Revue Internationale de Philosophie 95. RM Review of Metaphysics TLS Times Literary Supplement Other abbreviations should be obvious. ALEJANDRO, de, J. M. 'El atomismo gnoseologico de David Hume (1711-1776)', Pensamiento 32, 383-403. ANDERSON, R. F. 'The Location, Extension, Shape, and Size of Hume's Perceptions', in Livingston & King (see below) , 153-71. ARDAL, P. S. 'Some Implications of the Virtue of Reasonableness in Hume's Treatise' , in Livingston & King, 91-106. ARDLEY, G. 'Hume's Common Sense Critics', RIP 30, 104-2 5. ATKINSON, R. F. 'Hume on the Standard of Morals', in Merrill & Shahan (see below), 25-44. BAGOLINI, L. David Hume e Adam Smith: Elementi per una ricerca di filosofia giuridica e politica. Bologna. BAYLES, M. D. 'Hume on Blame and Excuse', Hume Studies 2, 17-35. BEANBLOSSOM, R. E. 1A New Foundation for Humean Scepticism1, Phil. Studies 29, 207-10. BEAUCHAMP, T. L. 'An Analysis of Hume's Essay "On Suicide"', RM 30, 73-95. BERfIAN, D. "David Hume on the 1641 Rebellion in Ireland', Studies: a Quarterly Review 65, 101-102. BIRO, J. I. 'Hume on Self-Identity and Memory", RM 30, 19-38. BJELKE, J. F. 'Wirklichkeitserkenntnis und Wirklichkeitsimagination bei Hume', Archiv für Geschichte der Phil. 58, 23-39. BOATRIGHT, J. R. 'Hume's Account of Moral Sentiment", RIP 30, 79-90. BOSSERT, P. J. "Hume and Husserl on Time and Time-Consciousness ", J. Br. Soc. Phenomenol. 7, 44-52. 96. BURNS, S. "The Humean Female", Dialogue 15, 415-2 4. [425-40.] BUTLER, R. J. ' Distinctiones Rationis, or the Cheshire Cat which left its smile behind it", PAS 76, 165-76. BUTLER, R. J. 'Hume's Impressions', in Royal Inst, of Phil. Lectures, Vol. 9, 122-36. CAPALDI, N. 'Hume's Theory of the Passions', in Livingston & King, 172-90. CHERRY, C. 'Nature, artifice and moral approbation", PAS 76, 265-82. COHEN, R. 'The Rationale of Hume's Literary Inquiries', in Merrill & Shahan, 97-115. COLVER, A. W. David Hume, The Natural History of Religion and PRICE, J. V. David Hume, Dialogues concerning Natural Religion. Oxford. [PB_ 18 (1977) , 49-54. ] COURTENAY, W. J. et al. Ockham, Descartes, and Hume: Self-Knowledge, Substance, and Causality. Madison , Wis . CONNON, R. W. 'Some Hume MS Alterations on a Copy of the Abstract' , JHP 14, 353-6. DAVIDSON, D. 'Hume's cognitive theory of pride', JP- 73, 744-57. DAVIE, W. 'Hume's Catalog of Virtue and Vice', in Merrill & Shahan, 45-57. DERATHÉ, R. 'L'obligation politique selon Hume', RIP 30, 91-103. ESPOSITO, J. L. 'Hume and the Transcendental Idealists', Southern J. Phil. 14, 431-42. FALK, W. D. 'Hume on Is and Ought', Canadian J...