Hume's conception of character
The thesis reconstructs Humeâs conception of character. Character is not just an ethical concern in Humeâs philosophy: Hume emphasises the importance of character in his ethics, aesthetics and history. The reconstruction therefore pays attention to Humeâs usage of the concept of character in his clearly philosophical works, the Treatise of Human Nature and the two Enquiries, as well as his less obviously philosophical works, the Essays, Moral, Political and Literary and the History of England. The first main thesis is that Humeâs conception of character includes multiple heterogeneous elements. These include passions, habits, natural abilities and possibly general rules. These elements are combined to form a coherent character through social organisation and conventions. The elements underpin character attributions, but it is argued that Hume is not concerned with identifying elements with character traits, as he is interested in characters as a whole rather than individual traits. The second main thesis is that the character of judges is central to Humeâs philosophy. Humeâs most sustained character of a judge is to be found in the essay âOf the Standard of Tasteâ. Close examination of this
Mahoney, Robert Heath
B Philosophy (General)
Hume's conception of character. The thesis reconstructs Humeâs conception of character. Character is not just an ethical concern in Humeâs philosophy: Hume emphasises the importance of character in his ethics, aesthetics and history. The reconstruction therefore pays attention to Humeâs usage of the concept of character in his clearly philosophical works, the Treatise of Human Nature and the two Enquiries, as well as his less obviously philosophical works, the Essays, Moral, Political and Literary and the History of England. The first main thesis is that Humeâs conception of character includes multiple heterogeneous elements. These include passions, habits, natural abilities and possibly general rules. These elements are combined to form a coherent character through social organisation and conventions. The elements underpin character attributions, but it is argued that Hume is not concerned with identifying elements with character traits, as he is interested in characters as a whole rather than individual traits. The second main thesis is that the character of judges is central to Humeâs philosophy. Humeâs most sustained character of a judge is to be found in the essay âOf the Standard of Tasteâ. Close examination of this
hume conception character reconstructs hume conception character character ethical_concern hume philosophy hume emphasise_importance character ethic aesthetic history reconstruction therefore pay_attention hume usage concept character clearly philosophical_work treatise human_nature well less obviously philosophical_work essays moral_political literary history england first main hume conception character include multiple heterogeneous element include passion habit natural ability possibly general rule element combine form coherent character social_organisation convention element underpin character attribution argue hume concern identify element character trait interested character whole rather_individual trait second main character judge central hume philosophy hume sustain character judge find essay standard taste close_examination