David Hume and the “Politics of Humanity”

Political Theory 39 (2):205-233 (2011)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Recently a call has gone up for a revival of the "politics of humanity." But what exactly is the "politics of humanity"? For illumination this paper turns to Hume's analysis of humanity's foundational role in morality and modern politics. Its aims in so doing are twofold. First, it aims to set forth a new understanding of the unity of Hume's practical and epistemological projects in developing his justifications for and the implications of his remarkable and underappreciated claim that humanity is the only sentiment on which a moral system can be founded. Second, by attending to Hume's substantive definition of humanity and its relationship to benevolence and sympathy in particular, it aims to clarify the relationship between the principal elements of the politics of humanity: "humanism" or secularism, "humane" or other-directed values, and mutual recognition of our shared "humanness."

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Hume's Liberal Mind.Dario Castiglione - 1996 - Dialogue 35 (1):87-.
Hume, David: Religion.C. M. Lorkowski - 2013 - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Philosophy and ideology in Hume's political thought.David Miller - 1981 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Hume's philosophical politics.Duncan Forbes - 1975 - New York: Cambridge University Press.
Well temper'd eloquence.David Hume - 1996 - Edinburgh: The David Hume Institute. Edited by David Hume & Ingrid A. Merikoski.
Hume as philosopher of society, politics, and history.Donald W. Livingston & Marie Martin (eds.) - 1991 - Rochester, N.Y.: University of Rochester Press.
Life and correspondence of David Hume.John Hill Burton & David Hume - 1846 - New York,: B. Franklin. Edited by David Hume.

Analytics

Added to PP
2013-09-30

Downloads
39 (#356,773)

6 months
3 (#447,120)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Ryan Patrick Hanley
Marquette University

Citations of this work

Sophie de Grouchy on the Problem of Economic Inequality.Getty L. Lustila - 2023 - Southern Journal of Philosophy 61 (1):112-132.
Cosmopolitan anger and shame.Joshua Hobbs - 2019 - Journal of Global Ethics 16 (1):58-76.
Hume and Humanity as ‘the foundation of morals’.Tony Pitson - 2019 - Journal of Scottish Philosophy 17 (1):39-59.
Aprender a vivir en un mundo emocionalizado. Una mirada a Hume.Julio Seoane Pinilla - 2022 - Revista de Filosofía (Madrid) 47 (2):311-327.

View all 6 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references