Abstract
In the first book of David Hume’s A Treatise of Human Nature and in his Enquiry concerning Human Understanding we see evidence of his deep interest in explaining certain of our basic beliefs about the world: the belief that there must be causes, that there are independent and abiding objects, and even that we each constitute, or are constituted by, an abiding and independent self. His writings on morals—the balance of the Treatise, the Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals, and numerous shorter pieces—reveal an analogous concern to account for our substantive moral beliefs and related moral behaviour. More particularly, Hume wanted to account for the moral judgements we do in fact make, and he wished to do this in a manner that was descriptive or empirical, while yet recognising in these judgements an irreducible normative component. Taking it for granted that we express moral opinions that are informative, Hume attempted to provide an explanation of these expressions and an anatomy of morals itself.
Research for this chapter was supported by the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton.
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Bibliography
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Norton, D.F. (1989). Hume. In: Cavalier, R.J., Gouinlock, J., Sterba, J.P. (eds) Ethics in the History of Western Philosophy. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-20203-4_6
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