Hume's Skepticism and the Whimsical Condition

Hume Studies 43 (1):29-59 (2017)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

At a crucial point in the final section 12 of Hume's Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding he refers to "the whimsical condition of mankind".1 This occurs in his concluding remarks about the untenability of what he calls "Pyrrhonism, or excessive scepticism" that set the stage for "mitigated scepticism, or ACADEMICAL philosophy", which then culminates in the famous agitated final paragraph of the first Enquiry that advocates "havoc" and committing certain kinds of books "to the flames".I wish to examine the content, context, and significance of Hume's characterization of the human condition as whimsical because I believe that it sheds light on the...

Categories

Keywords

Reprint years

2020

DOI

10.1353/hms.2017.0003

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 91,386

External links

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

Through your library

My notes

Similar books and articles

God, Uncertainty, and Suspense of Judgment: David Hume's Changing Religious Skepticism on God From the "Enquiry"'s Pyrrhonism to "the Natural History of Religion"'s Academic Skepticism.William Darryl Mehring - 1998 - Dissertation, University of Colorado at Boulder
Hume on "Popular" and "Philosophical" Skeptical Arguments.Ira M. Schnall - 2007 - Hume Studies 33 (1):41-66.
Are Humean Beliefs Pyrrhonian Appearances? Hume's Critique of Pyrrhonism Revisited.Jan Palkoska - 2012 - Journal of Scottish Philosophy 10 (2):183-198.
Scepticism, Causal Science and 'The Old Hume'.John P. Wright - 2012 - Journal of Scottish Philosophy 10 (2):123-142.
Hume's Internalist Epistemology in EHU 12.Hsueh Qu - 2018 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 96 (3):517-539.
Hume's scepticism regarding reason.John Asquith - 2016 - Dissertation, Oxford Brookes University
Reading Hume on Human Understanding: Essays on the First Enquiry.Peter Millican (ed.) - 2001 - New York: Oxford University Press.
The whimsical condition of social psychology, and of mankind.E. B. Holt - 1935 - In Horace Meyer Kallen & Hook Sidney (eds.), American Philosophy Today and Tomorrow. Freeport, N.Y., Books for Libraries Press. pp. 169--202.
Science and Skepticism.Beryl Logan - 2002 - Hume Studies 28 (2):297-308.
‘Naturalism’ and ‘Skepticism’ in Hume'sTreatise of Human Nature.Sean Greenberg - 2008 - Philosophy Compass 3 (4):721-733.
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding: With Hume's Abstract of a Treatise of Human Nature and a Letter From a Gentleman to His Friend in Edinburgh.Eric Steinberg (ed.) - 1993 - Hackett Publishing Company.
Hume’s Extreme Skepticism in Treatise I IV 7.Ira Singer - 1995 - Canadian Journal of Philosophy 25 (4):595-622.
Hume's Skepticism.Dennis Farrell Thompson - 1998 - Dissertation, University of Massachusetts - Amherst
Hume's Diffident Skepticism.Phillip D. Cummins - 1999 - Hume Studies 25 (1-2):43-65.
Hume's Enlightenment Tract: The Unity and Purpose of An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding (review).Dale Jacquette - 2002 - Hume Studies 28 (1):149-153.

Analytics

Added to PP
2020-08-12

Downloads
28 (#555,203)

6 months
7 (#411,886)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Michael Losonsky
Colorado State University

Citations of this work

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references