David Hume and the need to follow the abstruse philosophy for the discovery of the proper province of human reason
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18764/2675-8369v2n2.2024.1Keywords:
Abstruse philosophy, Moral philosophy, MetaphysicsAbstract
A recurring concern bothers David Hume (1711-1776) throughout his works, mainly in the warnings, prefaces and introductions: the nature of the relationship between academic philosophy and popular philosophy. Even nature imposing that we cannot dedicate ourselves entirely to studies without suffering and getting sick for it, Hume argues that we must insist on the search for truth, no matter how difficult this search is. Thus, wanting to be a man in the midst of all our philosophy is a necessity and not a moral precept. Against the image of the skeptical Hume, defended by many specialists in this philosophy, I defend, in this work, the idea that the predominant notion is not that the appropriate philosophy for humanity resides in a balance between abstruse philosophy and easy philosophy, but that, despite the advantages of easy philosophy, truth can only be found within abstruse philosophy. Thus, there is a prevalence of abstruse philosophy over easy, emphasizing the greater importance that this type of philosophy has for the Scottish philosopher. To this end, texts from different periods of the philosopher's life are approached: A kind of history of my life (1734), the introduction of Book I of the A Treatise of Human Nature (1739), as well as the warning, the opening pages of Book III and the preface to the Abstract (1740). Also discussed in this study is the essay entitled Of Essay-Writing (1742), Section I of the An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding (1748) and the essay Of Commerce (1752).
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HUME, David. A Treatise of Human Nature (1739-1740), ed. L. A. Selby-Bigge; 2nd edn., ed. P. H. Nidditch (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978).
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