Abstract

The present study contains three chapters, each emphasizing some different aspect of Hume's treatment of moral judgment. The first chapter addresses Hume's account of what it is for a moral judgment to be correct, as well as his account of the sources of errors we encounter in moral judgment, and the ways we can attempt to avoid and correct such errors. The second examines Hume's motivational arguments against ethical rationalism, and offers a new interpretation of Hume on the relation of moral judgment to desire and motivation. The third discusses the various interpretations which have been offered of Hume on moral judgments; it argues that each of these interpretations points to some important aspect of Hume's position, but then misrepresents it by trying to fit it into concerns foreign to his.