Francis Hutcheson on Liberty

Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 88:121-142 (2020)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This paper aims to reconstruct Francis Hutcheson's thinking about liberty. Since he does not offer a detailed treatment of philosophical questions concerning liberty in his mature philosophical writings I turn to a textbook on metaphysics. We can assume that he prepared the textbook during the 1720s in Dublin. This textbook deserves more attention. First, it sheds light on Hutcheson's role as a teacher in Ireland and Scotland. Second, Hutcheson's contributions to metaphysical disputes are more original than sometimes assumed. To appreciate his independent thinking, I argue, it is helpful to take the intellectual debates in Ireland into consideration, including William King's defence of free will and discussions of Shaftesbury's views in Robert Molesworth's intellectual circle. Rather than taking a stance on the philosophical disputes about liberty, I argue that Hutcheson aims to shift the focus of the debates towards practical questions concerning control of desire, cultivation of habits, and character development.

Similar books and articles

Hutcheson's Divergence from Shaftesbury.Simon Grote - 2006 - Journal of Scottish Philosophy 4 (2):159-172.
Hutcheson, Francis.Phyllis Vandenberg & Abigail DeHart - 2013 - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Hutcheson's Theological Objection to Egoism.John J. Tilley - 2016 - Journal of Scottish Philosophy 14 (1):101-123.
A system of moral philosophy.Francis Hutcheson - 1755 - New York,: A.M. Kelley.
Francis Hutcheson and Contemporary Ethical Theory. [REVIEW]W. W. A. - 1966 - Review of Metaphysics 19 (3):581-581.
Hume's Alleged Success over Hutcheson.Noriaki Iwasa - 2011 - Synthesis Philosophica 26 (2):323-336.

Analytics

Added to PP
2020-03-26

Downloads
462 (#37,698)

6 months
132 (#21,947)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Ruth Boeker
University College Dublin

Citations of this work

The Active Powers of the Human Mind.Ruth Boeker - 2023 - In Aaron Garrett & James A. Harris (eds.), Scottish Philosophy in the Eighteenth Century, Volume II: Method, Metaphysics, Mind, Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 255–292.
William King on election, reason, and desire: a reply to Kenneth Pearce.Enrico Galvagni - 2023 - British Journal for the History of Philosophy 32 (1):194-206.

Add more citations