Reading Hume on Human Understanding: Essays on the First Enquiry

by Peter Millican

Overview

This companion to the study of one of the great works of Western philosophy—David Hume's Enquiry concerning Human Understanding (1748)—provides a general overview of the Enquiry, especially for those approaching it for the first time, and sets it in the context of Hume's philosophical work as a whole. The eminent contributors to the volume cover a broad range of topics: meaning, induction, skepticism, belief, personal identity, causation, freedom, miracles, probability, and religious belief.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198752110
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	06/20/2002
Pages:	512
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Peter Millican is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Computer Studies at the University of Leeds.

Table of Contents

Introduction, Peter Millican1. The Context, Aims, and Structure of Hume's First Enquiry, Peter Millican2. Two Species of Philosophy; The Historical Significance of the First Enquiry, M. A. Stewart3. Empiricism about Meanings, Jonathan Bennett4. Hume's Sceptical Doubts concerning Induction, Peter Millican5. Belief and Instinct in Hume's First Enquiry, Martin Bell6. Hume, Belief, and Personal Identity, Justin Broackes7. The Idea of Necessary Connexion, Edward J. Craig8. David Hume: Objects and Power, Galen Strawson9. Hume and Thick Connexions, Simon Blackburn10. Hume on Liberty and Necessity, George Botterill11. Hume on Testimony concerning Miracles, Don Garrett12. Hume versus Price on Miracles and Prior Probabilities: Testimony and the Bayesian Calculation, David Owen13. Religion: The Useless Hypothesis, J. C. A. Gaskin14. Of the Academical or Sceptical Philosophy, David F. NortonBibliography, Index

Editorial Reviews

"Peter Millican's Reading Hume on Human Understanding is a comprehensive overview of the philosophy of the first Enquiry and of the secondary literature on that work... future scholars will be able to review an outstanding collection of summary descriptions of books and articles on Hume and the first Enquiry, and will be that much more quickly able to focus their research and inform their reflections. We all owe him for that...In sum, this is a very valuable book, which succeeds admirably in its aim of providing a guide to advanced study of the first Enquiry. It would be an excellent choice for a graduate seminar, and it deserves to be on every Hume scholar's reference shelf."—Hume Studies

"Hume's Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding presents in elegant essay form many of the doctrines of Book One of A Treatise of Human Nature...[Millican] has with this collection, made it easier to discern the various ways in which Hume's second thoughts on human understanding differ from his first."—Times Literary Supplement

From the Publisher