Abstract

In this book Berry provides a useful summary and comparison of the positions of Hegel and Hume on human nature and its relation to social diversity. After a general introduction, Berry discusses the Enlightenment, Herder’s reaction, Kant, then Hume and Hegel. Most of the comparisons of the latter two are made during the treatment of Hegel. For each thinker Berry asks about the unity of human nature and its relation to social diversity: What is the kind of unity involved, what causes historical and social differences, and is history crucial to a study of human nature? Along the way various topics such as language and property are studied for their bearing on the more basic issues. Berry discusses the intellectual milieu of his two thinkers with respect to his themes; this provides useful background on the Enlightenment and Romantic conceptions, especially in Berry’s discussion of Herder’s reaction to the Enlightenment theories of an ahistorical human nature.