UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS
DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY
PHILOSOPHY 592T: HUME'S TREATISE
Vere Chappell Spring 2002
WEEKLY PAPER TOPICS
01. Feb 07 In what way(s) and on what basis(es) is Hume an empiricist?
02. Feb 14 Outline Hume's argument about causation in Treatise 1.3.2-6; be sure to:
(a) state his principal conclusions in these sections;
(b) state the premises from which these conclusions are drawn (including any Hume himself does not state);
(c) spell out the reasoning from permises to conclusions.
In addition, list the questions about causation that Hume poses but has not (yet) answered in these sections.
Also, list any related questions you think he ought to have posed (and answered) but does not do so.
03. Feb 21 In Treatise 1.3.6, in the Abstract, and in the first Enquiry 4, Hume raises 'sceptical doubts' about inductive reasoning.
(a) What exactly do these doubts amount to?
(b) By what argument does Hume seek to justify these doubts?
(c) Do you think this argument is successful; i.e., does it in fact justify these doubts? How or why not?
04. Feb 28 What does Hume really think about causal relations? Is he a realist concerning them? A regularity theorist? A sceptic?
Something other than these? Defend whatever answer you give.
05. Mar 07 Chart the course of Hume's discussion in Treatise 1.4.2. Identify his major conclusions and outline the arguments on
which he bases them.
06. Mar 28 State the main conclusion that Hume defends in each of Treatise 1.4.3, 1.4.4, and 1.4.5; then lay out the chief argument he
uses to support one of these conclusions.
07. Apr 04 State Hume's position in Treatise 1.4.6, and outline the reasoning by which he reaches it.
08. Apr 11 Summarize Hume's account of one of the indirect passions, and spell out one or two questions or difficulties you think are
raised by it.
09. Apr 18 [Either A. or B.]
A. Hume claims that all human actions are necessary. He also claims that human beings are free agents. How does he
seek to reconcile these two claims? Do you think his attempted reconciliation is successful? Why or why not? [Be sure
to read EHU viii before writing on this topic.]
B. Hume claims that 'reason alone can never produce any action, or give rise to volition'. Does this mean that he holds that
knowledge and belief by themselves are incapable of motivating action? Hume also claims that only passions motivate actions.
Does he hold that all passions can be motives? Does he think that any passion can 'produce [an] action, or give rise to volition',
all by itself, in the absence of any knowledge or belief?
10. May 02 Hume's direct target in Treatise 3.1 is the question how, or by what means, we distinguish (discern, discover) moral qualities, i.e.
virtue and vice, in things. But he thinks that an answer to this question entails an account of moral qualities themselves, what
they are or consist in. What then is Hume's account of the vice and virtue that we find in human actions and persons? Spell out
both the negative and the positive parts of his account: both what he claims vice and virtue are not and what he claims they are.
11. May 09 Hume's theory of justice: its nature, origin, and moral status, the motives thereto, and the obligation thereof.
12. May 16 Write a comprehensive, systematic summary of the fundamental provisions of Hume's moral theory as a whole.