Hume's Philosophy

Pre-requisites: None.

Course objectives: Students will be introduced to the basic ideas of Hume's philosophy and specific nature of his empiricism and naturalism, including their application in ethics and aesthetics.

Course description: Issues to be discussed include the peculiar nature of Hume's empiricism ("there is no idea without proper impression", the principle of association of ideas); the way in which that empiricism was the cornerstone of Hume's new "science of human nature"; skeptical consequences of that empiricism that lead not only to criticism of rationalist philosophy, but also to critique of the fundamental common sense beliefs; Hume's criticism of those beliefs (causality as a necessary connection, the existence of the outside world, the existence of substantial "self"); his attempt of partial naturalistic reconstruction of theese beliefs; Hume's ethics and aesthetics ideas: their nature, influence and modern debates about their logico-epistemological character.

Learning Outcomes: The student must be trained to think in the spirit of Hume's empiricism and naturalism, and to understand their influence which can be seen to this day in many areas of philosophy.

Literature/Reading:

• Dejvid Hjum, Rasprava o ljudskoj prirodi, prevod Borivoja Nedića [više izdanja]
• Dejvid Hjum, O merilu ukusa, priredio,preveo i napisao predgovor Leon Kojen, 1992
• David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature, edited by David Fate Norton and Mary J. Norton, 2000
• David Hume, An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, edited by Tom L. Beauchamp, 1999
• David Hume, An Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals, edited by Tom L. Beauchamp, 1998
• Norman [Kemp] Smith, „The Naturalism of Hume (I)-(II)“, Mind, 1905
• Barry Stroud, Hume, 1977
• David Pears, Hume’s System, 1990
• J.L. Mackie, Hume’s Moral Theory, 1980
• John McDowell, Mind, Value, and Reality, 1998, str. 112-166