
Contents
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I Skepticism, Empiricism, Naturalism, and Irreligion I Skepticism, Empiricism, Naturalism, and Irreligion
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II The Biographical Background of Hume’s Philosophy II The Biographical Background of Hume’s Philosophy
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III Causation and the Copy Principle III Causation and the Copy Principle
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IV The Formation of Treatise Book 1 Parts 1–3 IV The Formation of Treatise Book 1 Parts 1–3
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V Skepticism: Corrosive or Mitigated? V Skepticism: Corrosive or Mitigated?
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VI Hume’s Chief Argument and His Taming of Skepticism VI Hume’s Chief Argument and His Taming of Skepticism
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VII Conclusion: Hume’s Consistent Purposes VII Conclusion: Hume’s Consistent Purposes
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Abbreviations of Hume’s Works Cited Abbreviations of Hume’s Works Cited
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Notes Notes
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Bibliography Bibliography
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6 Hume’s Chief Argument
Get accessPeter Millican, Hertford College, Oxford
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Published:02 October 2014
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Abstract
The common tendency to characterize Hume’s philosophy as simply “skeptical,” “naturalist,” “empiricist,” or “irreligious” is a mistake. Rather, his philosophy is best seen as responding to a number of specific issues that captured his attention in the 1730s, mostly involving causation and thus explaining his particular enthusiasm for applying the Copy Principle to that idea. Other enthusiasms that shaped Book 1 of the Treatise (e.g., for sensory atomism and a crude theory of relations and mental acts) later faded, but the “Chief Argument” around causation—and causal/inductive inference—remains the consistent core of Hume’s theoretical philosophy through the Abstract and the many editions of the first Enquiry. In the Enquiry, moreover, Hume manages to tame the corrosive skepticism of the Treatise, enabling him to pursue his ambitions towards a naturalistic “science of man” while maintaining a discriminating skepticism towards aprioristic metaphysics and religion.
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