David Hume and the Problem of Other Minds

By Anik Waldow

Book Overview

The problem of other minds has widely been considered as a special problem within the debate about scepticism. If one cannot be sure that there is a world existing independent ly of one's mind, how can we be sure that there are minds - minds which we cannot even experience the way we experience material objects?
This book shows, through a detailed examination of David Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature, that these concerns are unfounded. By focusing on Hume's discussion of sympathy - the ability to connect with the mental contents of other persons - Anik Waldow demonstrates that belief in other minds can be justified by the same means as belief in material objects.
The book thus not only provides the first large-scale treatment of the function of the belief in other minds within the Treatise, thereby adding a new dimension to Hume's realism, but also serves as an invaluable guide to the complexity of the problem of other minds and its various responses in contemporary debate.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0826433049
• ISBN13: 9780826433046
• Release Date: August 2009
• Publisher: Continuum
• Length: 218 Pages
• Weight: 0.83 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.2" x 9.4"