Hume's System: An Examination of the First Book of his ^ITreatise^R - Hardcover

Pears, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198751001 ISBN 13: 9780198751007

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 1991

Synopsis

In this book, Professor Pears examines the foundations of Hume's system as laid down in the first book of his Treatise, where his ideas are presented in their first fresh and undiluted form. The author steers a middle course between the two extreme views adopted in recent writings on Hume: that he relies exclusively on a theory of meaning, or that he relies exclusively on a theory of truth and evidence. Professor Pears argues that Hume's theory of ideas serves both functions, and he examines in detail its application to three difficult problems: causation, personal identity, and sense-perception. Hume's solutions are shown not to be theories which can be given a place in a standard classification of philosophical theories, but rather to depend upon a subtle form of naturalism not altogether unlike Wittgenstein's naturalism.

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Review

characteristically lucid study (Times Literary Supplement)

excellently thought-provoking (Alan R. White, University of Nottingham)

Challenging, thought-provoking, lucid: well-informed. (Dr E.J. Lowe, University of Durham)

A stimulating and clear discussion of central issues in Hume's philosophy. (Professor John Cottingham, University of Reading)

Professor Pears, as was to be expected, has presented the philosophical world with most acute analyses of the problems of causation, personal identity and perception in Hume's Treatise. (Dr Paul Tomassi, University of Edinburgh)

Hume's System is a thorough and carefully argued encounter with Hume's Treatise. (Christian K. Campolo, Hume Studies, Volume XIX, Number 1)

excellent study ... Pears excels at putting back those considerations that Hume inconsistently neglects, and having put them back he is able to explain Hume's vacillations as the result of his failure to face up to those alternatives. Pear's book is an excellent contribution to our understanding of the problems that Hume addresses in the Treatise ... his prose style is a delight to read, possessing a polished elegance that is all too rare in academic work. The book is also free of misprints and contains a comprehensive and highly useful set of internal references in the footnotes. (Adrian Heathcote, University of Sydney, Australian Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 71, No. 2, June 1993)

each of these verbal portraits is true to its subject. And each conveys a lively impression not only of Hume, but of a second distinctive philosophical personality...the justification for working through this very stimulating book..is not to hear yet another scholarly voice in a debate over Hume as skeptic versus Hume as naturalist. It is to join a creative philosopher as he struggles, with Hume at his side, to illuminate problems that are as much our own as they were the eighteenth century's. (The Philosophical Review Vol 103 no 4)

From the Back Cover

The author steers a middle course between the two extreme views adopted in recent works on Hume: that he relies exclusively on a theory of meaning, or that he relies exclusively on a theory of truth and evidence. Professor Pears argues that Hume's theory of ideas serves both functions, and he examines in detail its application to three difficult problems: causation, personal identity, and sense perception.

Edition details

• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Publication date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0198751001
• ISBN 13: 9780198751007
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 216