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  1. Hume's Justice and the Problem of the Missing Motive.Ian Cruise - forthcoming - Ergo: An Open Access Journal of Philosophy.
    The task that Hume explicitly sets himself in 3.2 of the Treatise is to identify the motive that renders just actions virtuous and constitutes justice as a virtue. But surprisingly, he never provides a clear account of what this motive is. This is the problem of the missing motive. The goal of this paper is to explain this problem and offer a novel solution. To set up my solution, I analyze a recent proposal from Geoffrey Sayre-McCord and illustrate what it (...)
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  2. Hume's Skeptical Philosophy and the Moderation of Pride.Charles Goldhaber - forthcoming - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research.
    Hume describes skeptical philosophy as having a variety of desirable effects. It can counteract dogmatism, produce just reasoning, and promote social cohesion. When discussing how skepticism may achieve these effects, Hume typically appeals to its effects on pride. I explain how, for Hume, skeptical philosophy acts on pride and how acting on pride produces the desirable effects. Understanding these mechanisms, I argue, sheds light on how, why, when, and for whom skeptical philosophy can be useful. It also illuminates the value (...)
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  3. Hume's Real Riches.Charles Goldhaber - 2022 - History of Philosophy Quarterly 39 (1):45–57.
    Hume describes his own “open, social, and cheerful humour” as “a turn of mind which it is more happy to possess, than to be born to an estate of ten thousand a year.” Why does he value a cheerful character so highly? I argue that, for Hume, cheerfulness has two aspects—one manifests as mirth in social situations, and the other as steadfastness against life’s misfortunes. This second aspect is of special interest to Hume in that it safeguards the other virtues. (...)
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  4. A Humean Approach to the Boundaries of the Moral Domain.Mark Collier - 2020 - Journal of Scottish Philosophy 18 (1):1-16.
    Hume maintains that the boundaries of morality are widely drawn in everyday life. We routinely blame characters for traits that we find disgusting, on this account, as well as those which we perceive as being harmful. Contemporary moral psychology provides further evidence that human beings have a natural tendency to moralize traits that produce feelings of repugnance. But recent work also demonstrates a significant amount of individual variation in our sensitivities to disgust. We have sufficient reason to bracket this emotion, (...)
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  5. On Pride.Lorenzo Greco - 2019 - Humana Mente 12 (35):101-123.
    In this essay, I offer a vindication of pride. I start by presenting the Christian condemnation of pride as the cardinal sin. I subsequently examine Mandeville’s line of argument whereby pride is beneficial to society, although remaining a vice for the individual. Finally, I focus on, and endorse, the analysis of pride formulated by Hume, for whom pride qualifies instead as a virtue. This is because pride not only contributes to making society flourish but also stabilizes the virtuous agent by (...)
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  6. Associative Virtues and Hume's Narrow Circle.Erin Frykholm - 2017 - Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 98 (1):612-637.
    This article offers a straightforward reading of Hume's ‘narrow circle’ – the boundary employed to define those with whom we sympathize in assessing an agent's moral character – that follows from a more careful look at his account of virtue. Hume employs a principle that can be understood as a virtue ethical equivalent of associative obligation, which thereby delimits the boundaries of this circle. This reading avoids concerns about unjustified partiality, moral blind spots, and demandingness, and shows a clear path (...)
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  7. Love’s Enlightenment: Rethinking Charity in Modernity.Ryan Patrick Hanley - 2017 - New York: Cambridge University Press.
    A number of prominent moral philosophers and political theorists have recently called for a recovery of love. But what do we mean when we speak of love today? Love's Enlightenment examines four key conceptions of other-directedness that transformed the meaning of love and helped to shape the way we understand love today: Hume's theory of humanity, Rousseau's theory of pity, Smith's theory of sympathy, and Kant's theory of love. It argues that these four Enlightenment theories are united by a shared (...)
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  8. Modern Greatness of Soul in Hume and Smith.Andrew J. Corsa - 2015 - Ergo: An Open Access Journal of Philosophy 2.
    I contend that Adam Smith and David Hume offer re-interpretations of Aristotle’s notion of greatness of soul, focusing on the kind of magnanimity Aristotle attributes to Socrates. Someone with Socratic magnanimity is worthy of honor, responds moderately to fortune, and is virtuous—just and benevolent. Recent theorists err in claiming that magnanimity is less important to Hume’s account of human excellence than benevolence. In fact, benevolence is a necessary ingredient for the best sort of greatness. Smith’s “Letter to Strahan” attributes this (...)
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  9. Without Gallantry and Without Jealousy: The Development of Hume's Account of Sexual Virtues and Vices.Lorne Falkenstein - 2015 - Hume Studies 41 (2):137-170.
    In this paper I argue that Hume's thought on comportment between the sexes developed over time. In the Treatise he was interested in explaining why the world seeks to impose artificial virtues of chastity and modesty on women and girls, and how it manages to do this so successfully. But as time passed he became increasingly concerned with justice towards women and the role of free interactions between the sexes in facilitating sociability. While his later work continues to explain the (...)
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  10. Cultivating Strength of Mind: Hume on the Government of the Passions and Artificial Virtue.Lauren Kopajtic - 2015 - Hume Studies 41 (2):201-229.
    Several authors have recently noted Hume’s relative silence on the virtue of strength of mind and how it is developed. In this paper I suggest that Hume had good reasons for this silence, and I argue that Hume’s discussion of artificial virtue, especially the virtue of allegiance, reveals a complex view of the limitations on human efforts at self-reform. Further, it reveals the need for government and externally-imposed regulative structures to enable the development of strength of mind. I argue that (...)
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  11. Strength of Mind and the Calm and Violent Passions.Elizabeth S. Radcliffe - 2015 - Res Philosophica 92 (3):1-21.
    Hume’s distinction between the calm and violent passions is one whose boundaries are not entirely clear. However, it is crucial to understanding his motivational theory and to identifying an unusual virtue he calls “strength of mind,” the motivational prevalence of the calm passions over the violent. In this paper, I investigate the boundaries of the calm passions and consider the constitution of strength of mind and why Hume regards it as an admirable trait. These are provocative issues for two reasons. (...)
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  12. Hume's Anatomy of Virtue.Paul Russell - 2013 - In Daniel C. Russell (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Virtue Ethics. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 92-123.
    In his Treatise of Human Nature Hume makes clear that it is his aim to make moral philosophy more scientific and properly grounded on experience and observation. The “experimental” approach to philosophy, Hume warns his readers, is “abstruse,” “abstract” and “speculative” in nature. It depends on careful and exact reasoning that foregoes the path of an “easy” philosophy, which relies on a more direct appeal to our passions and sentiments . Hume justifies this approach by way of an analogy concerning (...)
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  13. Defending Humility.Michael W. Austin - 2012 - Philosophia Christi 14 (2):461-470.
    In this philosophical note I first offer a brief sketch of a Christian conception of humility. Next, I consider two criticisms of the claim that humility is a virtue, one from David Hume and a second from contemporary philosopher Tara Smith. What follows in this note is not a comprehensive defense of the claim that humility is a virtue. However, if humility is not a virtue, it will be for reasons other than those proffered by Hume and Smith, as their (...)
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  14. Hume and the Enthusiasm Puzzle.James Brian Coleman - 2012 - Journal of Scottish Philosophy 10 (2):221-235.
    This paper presents a discussion of an apparent inconsistency between Hume's moral theory and his moral evaluations of historical characters in his History of England. While Hume considers enthusiasm to be a religious vice, he praises the characters of some historical enthusiasts, blames others, and regards enthusiasm as having a positive social effect. But according to Hume's moral theory, only a virtue can have positive social effect, or be praiseworthy. The paper refers to the inconsistency between the History and the (...)
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  15. Hume e l'etica della virtù.Lorenzo Greco - 2012 - Iride: Filosofia e Discussione Pubblica 25 (67):603-15.
    In this paper, I present some reasons in favour of an interpretation of Hume’s moral philosophy as a brand new form of "virtue ethics." By discussing some specific issues within the secondary literature in favour and against this kind of reading, I argue that Hume offers better philosophical tools to redefine the basic notion of virtue ethics than the neo-Aristotelian alternative. In particular, I maintain that the strength of Hume’s proposal lies in its pointing toward the unity of character instead (...)
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  16. Hume and the Intellectual Virtues.Dan O'Brien - 2012 - Discipline Filosofiche 22 (2):153-172.
    For Hume virtues are character traits that are useful and agreeable to ourselves and to others. Such traits are wide-ranging, from moral virtues such as benevolence to intellectual virtues such as courage of mind and penetration. This paper focuses on Hume’s account of the latter. I argue that Hume is a virtue epistemologist, principally interested in the role that intellectual character traits play in social interactions rather than in the justifiedness of particular beliefs. I shall argue that this interpretation is (...)
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  17. Hume and the virtues.Dan O'Brien - 2012 - In Alan Bailey & Dan O'Brien (eds.), The Continuum Companion to Hume. Continuum. pp. 288--302.
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  18. What's Wrong with Monkish Virtues? Hume on the Standard of Virtue.Philip A. Reed - 2012 - History of Philosophy Quarterly 29 (1).
    How does Hume determine what qualities of the mind count as virtues and what qualities count as vices? By what standard, for example, does Hume dismiss the so-called “monkish virtues”? Hume’s commentators have proposed various possibilities for the standard of virtue, among them the general point of view and the usefulness/agreeableness of qualities. I consider the case for these standards and argue that Hume contends ultimately that consensus decides controversial questions about the status of virtues and vices. I try especially (...)
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  19. Delicate Magnanimity: Hume on the Advantages of Taste.Margaret Watkins - 2009 - History of Philosophy Quarterly 26 (4):389 - 408.
    This article argues that Hume's brief essay, "Of the Delicacy of Taste and Passion," offers resources for three claims: (1) Delicate taste correlates with self-sufficiency and thus with a particularly Humean form of Magnanimity -- greatness of mind; (2) Delicate taste improves the capacity for profound friendships, characterized by mutual admiration and true compassion; and (3) magnanimity and compassion are thus not necessarily in tension with one another and may even proceed from and support harmony of character. These claims, in (...)
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  20. The virtue of justice morality: Two interpretations of honesty in Hume.Juan Samuel Santos Castro - 2008 - Universitas Philosophica 25 (51).
    Hume's problematic motivation of the virtue of justice is interpreted at least in three different ways: as an interested willingness, as a useful but self-indulgent willingness, finally, as a moral, deliberate and pleasant willingness where concern for the good of others or the society is intentionally expressed. This essay holds the last one of these readings and aims to reveal how it better fits the common sense view of any virtue.
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  21. Character traits and the Humean approach to ethics.Donald Ainslie - 2007 - Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities 94 (1):79-110.
  22. Hume's excellent hypocrites.Annette C. Baier - 2007 - In E. Mazza & Ronchetti (eds.), Rivista di Storia Della Filosofia. Francoangeli. pp. 267-286.
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  23. “To have lived from the beginning of the world”: Hume on Historical Anatomy and the Lessons of Virtue.Timothy Costelloe - 2007 - Modern Schoolman 84 (4):313-336.
  24. “Traktat Hume’a i problem cnotliwego ateizmu” [“Hume’s Treatise and the Problem of Virtuous Atheism”],.Paul Russell - 2007 - Nowa Krytyka 20:333-380. Translated by Tomasz Sieczkowski & Mateusz Oleksy.
    In this paper I provide an irreligious interpretation of Hume’s fundamental aims and objectives in his 'Treatise of Human Nature' as regards his moral theory. According to the irreligious interpretation, there are two key claims that Hume seeks to establish in the Treatise in respect of morality. The first is that Hume defends the “autonomy of morality” in relation to religion. The foundations of moral and political life, he holds, rests with our human nature, not with the doctrines and dogmas (...)
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  25. La historicidad de las virtudes en el pensamiento de David Hume.Gerardo López Sastre - 2005 - In Gerardo López Sastre (ed.), David Hume: Nuevas Perspectivas Sobre Su Obra. Ediciones de la Universidad de Castilla-la Mancha.
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  26. Sieges, Shipwrecks, and Sensible Knaves: Justice and Utility in Butler and Hume.John R. Bowlin - 2000 - Journal of Religious Ethics 28 (2):253 - 280.
    By examining the theories of justice developed by Joseph Butler and David Hume, the author discloses the conceptual limits of their moral naturalism. Butler was unable to accommodate the possibility that justice is, at least to some extent, a social convention. Hume, who more presciently tried to spell out the conventional character of justice, was unable to carry through that project within the framework of his moral naturalism. These limits have gone unnoticed, largely because Butler and Hume have been misinterpreted, (...)
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  27. Hume's wide view of the virtues: An analysis of his early critics.James Fieser - 1998 - Hume Studies 24 (2):295-311.
    In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Hume Studies Volume XXIV, Number 2, November 1998, pp. 295-311 Hume's Wide View of the Virtues: An Analysis of his Early Critics JAMES FIESER Hume discusses about 70 different virtues in his moral theory. Many of these are traditional virtues and have clear moral significance, such as benevolence, charity, honesty, wisdom, and honor. However, Hume also includes in his list of virtues some character traits whose moral significance is (...)
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  28. Hume on the Characters of Virtue.Richard H. Dees - 1997 - Journal of the History of Philosophy 35 (1):45-64.
    In the world according to Hume, people are complicated creatures, with convoluted, often contradictory characters. Consider, for example, Hume's controversial assessment of Charles I: "The character of this prince, as that of most men, if not of all men, was mixed .... To consider him in the most favourable light, it may be affirmed, that his dignity was free from pride, his humanity from weakness, his bravery from rashness, his temperance from austerity, his frugality from avarice .... To speak the (...)
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  29. Artificial Virtues and the Equally Sensible Non-Knaves: A Response to Gauthier.Annette C. Baier - 1992 - Hume Studies 18 (2):429-439.
    In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Artificial Virtues and the Equally Sensible Non-Knaves: A Response to Gauthier Annette C. Baier Gauthier's splendidly dialectical paper1 first sets out Hume's official Treatise account ofhow each personhas a self-interested motive to curb her natural but socially troublesome self-interest, by agreeing to the adoption ofthe artifices ofprivate property rights, transfer by consent, and promise (provided others are also agreeing to adopt them), andhow the sympathy-dependent moral sentiment approves of (...)
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  30. MacIntrye on Hume.Annette Baier - 1991 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 51 (1):159 - 163.
  31. Natural Virtues, Natural Vices: ANNETTE C. BAIER.Annette C. Baier - 1990 - Social Philosophy and Policy 8 (1):24-34.
    David Hume has been invoked by those who want to found morality on human nature as well as by their critics. He is credited with showing us the fallacy of moving from premises about what is the case to conclusions about what ought to be the case; and yet, just a few pages after the famous is-ought remarks in A Treatise of Human Nature, he embarks on his equally famous derivation of the obligations of justice from facts about the cooperative (...)
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  32. Hume's Noble Lie: An Account of His Artificial Virtues.Marcia Baron - 1982 - Canadian Journal of Philosophy 12 (3):539 - 555.
    Hume scholars have been anxious to point out that when Hume calls Justice, chastity and so on artificial virtues, he is in no way denying that they are real virtues. I shall argue that they are mistaken, and that anyone who wants to understand Hume's account of Justice and his category of artificial virtues must take seriously his choice of the word ‘artifice,’ recognizing that it means not only ‘Skill in designing and employing expedients,’ but also ‘address, cunning, trickery.'My suggestion (...)
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  33. Passion and Value in Hume's Treatise. [REVIEW]C. E. - 1968 - Review of Metaphysics 21 (4):745-745.
    This critical work proceeds in a scholarly manner to show that Hume's Treatise, which has been ignored as a source for his moral theory, is of definite value for a correct and complete interpretation of his ethics. It is the author's contention that Hume's moral theory is closely connected to his psychology, which is set out in the Treatise. The author presents various interpretations he considers incorrect, exposing their faults and then suggesting an alternative view. Árdal is not attempting a (...)
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