Hume's Naturalism

By H.O. Mounce

Book Overview

Hume's Naturalism provides a clear and concise guide to the debates over whether Hume's empiricism or his 'naturalism' in the tradition of the Scottish 'Common Sense' school of philosophy gained his upper hand. This debate is central to any understanding of Hume's thought. H.O. Mounce presents a beautifully clear guide to Hume's most important works, The Treatise on Human Nature and Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. Accessible to anyone coming to Hume for the first time, Hume's Naturalism affords a much needed overview of the key concepts of empiricism, causation, scepticism, reason and morality that are essential to any understanding of Hume's philosophy.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0415191246
• ISBN13: 9780415191241
• Release Date: March 1999
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.77 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

An Outstanding Contribution to Understanding Hume

Professor Mounce is to be congratulated on his clarity of expression and the precision of his thought in this outstanding book on Hume's philosophy. We are in his debt. There are many books on Hume's thought, some better than others. If I were to limit my reading to five secondary works or so, this would be the first one I would suggest that needs to be read and reread. Highly recommended for someone who wants to try to understand David Hume's thought. I particularly like Mounce's reasoning on naturalism as a way into understanding Hume's Dialogues on Natural Religion. It was the most balanced I've read so far, and the most penetrating. Mounce's thesis is an expansion of Kemp Smith's argument in his book the Philosophy of David Hume. We believe and act as we do, even though it does not seem reasonable to do so, simply because that is the way we are. I wonder if I'm the only one who sees the design implications in this? Are we the way we are because we were "created" this way? Mounce's book does not answer these religious questions, which may or may not be appropriate, but makes a very compelling case for his thesis regarding "Hume's Naturalism".