Philosophy 176

We will study the first book of Hume’s Treatise and his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, aiming to understand the claims and arguments he makes about the nature, origin, and justification of our ideas and beliefs. We will examine with special care the philosophical issues he raises about causal inference, causal necessity, and our ideas of material objects, the self, and God. We will also address more general questions, including these: What are the explanatory goals and methods of a “scientist of man”? What lines of thought lead Hume to skeptical conclusions? How are Hume’s naturalism and skepticism related to one another?