I know that this is
late, but I did have an issue with the invitation and actually being able to
post this, but here goes nothing. I decided to do my report on a philosopher
named David Hume. I chose David Hume has an interesting story that when
choosing who I would write about really stood out to me. David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, who is best
known today for his system of philosophical empiricism, skepticism, and
naturalism. He has been compared to fellow philosophers such as John Locke, Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes due
to his empiricist approach to philosophy. He was born on 26 April 1711 in a tenement on the north side of the Lawnmarket in Edinburgh. Hume's father died when Hume was a child, just after
his second birthday, and he was raised by his mother, who never remarried. He
changed the spelling of his name in 1734, because of the fact that his surname Home, pronounced Hume, was not known in England. Throughout his life Hume, who
never married, spent time occasionally at his family home at Ninewells in Berwickshire,
which had belonged to his family since the sixteenth century. Hume
attended the University of Edinburgh at the unusually early age of twelve at a time when
fourteen was normal. At first, because of his family, he considered a career in law, but came to have, in his words, "an insurmountable
aversion to everything but the pursuits of Philosophy and general Learning; and
while [my family] fancied I was poring over Voet and Vinnius, Cicero and Virgil
were the Authors which I was secretly devouring.” He had little respect
for his professors at the University at this time, telling a friend in 1735
that "there is nothing to be learnt from a Professor, which is not to be
met with in Books.” Hume did not graduate from the university. At around the
age of 18, he made a philosophical discovery that opened up to him "a new
Scene of Thought", which inspired him "to throw up every other
Pleasure or Business to apply entirely to it.” He did not directly say
what this discovery was, but a popular interpretation of this is that the
new "scene of thought" was Hume's realization that Francis Hutcheson's "moral sense" theory of morality could be
applied to the understanding as well. Because of this new inspiration, Hume
set out to spend a minimum of ten years reading and writing. He
soon came to the verge of a mental breakdown, suffering from
what a doctor diagnosed as the "Disease of the Learned". Hume wrote
that it started with a coldness, which he attributed to a "Laziness of
Temper” that lasted about nine months. Later, some scurvy spots broke
out on his fingers. This was what persuaded Hume's physician to make his
diagnosis. Hume wrote that he "went under a Course of Bitters and
Anti-Hysteric Pills", taken along with a pint of claret every day. Hume
also decided to have a more active life to better continue his learning.
Better something than nothing, and this is not "nothing"-it's a nice biographical intro to Le Bon David. For your 2d installment, I suggest you select one of his notable philosophical positions - skepticism regarding induction or the implausibility of miracles, say - and explain his view. Maybe you can also reflect on why he won a recent contest among contemporary philosophers as their favorite.
ReplyDeleteHey Chandler, I really liked your summary of Hume's life. He seems like a very interesting guy. I found it surprising that he left university without graduating. Granted, I understand he left because of his dislike towards professors, but I still find it odd he just up and left without finishing. Another thing I really liked was his level of dedication towards learning and writing after he had already left post-education. 10 years of reading and writing? I'm not surprised he went crazy. I'd really like to know more of the concepts he wrote about, given he was respected in the empiricist, skepticism, and naturalistic fields of philosophy.
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