HUME’S PHILOSOPHY OF HUMAN UNDERSTANDING

Authors

  • Robert D. Finch University of Houston

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/eph.v15i1.77

Keywords:

David Hume, philosophical thought, history

Abstract

An essay arguing that Hume is important to Humanism for a number of reasons.He was a naturalist and an empiricist. He realized the importance of emotion in human understanding and psychology and it was important in his theory of morality. But perhaps the most important element in his formulation was the role of habit or custom in the process of our recognizing cause-and-effect relationships.

Author Biography

  • Robert D. Finch, University of Houston

    Robert David Finch was born in England and studied physics at Imperial College, University of London. While at school he helped found a humanist club called the Huxley Society. Shortly after marrying Sheila in 1963 Bob obtained his Ph.D. and they emigrated to the United States, where Bob had a postdoctoral fellowship in the physics department at the University of California in Los Angeles. He was appointed to the faculty of mechanical engineering at the University of Houston, Texas, in 1965. He received the Biennial Award of the Acoustical Society of America in 1972, and was also made a fellow of that society in the same year. He served as assistant executive director of the Governor's Energy Advisory Council from 1973 to 1975. He served as chair of his Department from 1976 to 1979. He is the author of some eighty technical publications and a textbook in acoustics. He retired from the university in 1998 and is now professor emeritus. He was president of the Humanists of Houston from 1992 to 1997. He was chair of the Chapter Assembly of the American Humanist Association from 1999 to 2006 and was on the AHA Board from 2000 to 2006. He has authored sixteen papers in Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism.

References

Dennett, Daniel C., (2003) “Freedom Evolves”, Viking.

Finch, Robert D., (2000) “Evolution, Adaptive Systems, and Humanism”, Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism 8, 28 – 51.

Hume, David, (1748) “An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding”, Edited by Eric Steinberg, Hackett Publishing Company, 1977

Hume, David, (1777) “An Enquiry Concerning The Principles of Morals” in “Enquiries”, Edited by L.A. Selby-Bigge, Third Edition with notes by P.H. Nidditch, Clarendon Press,1975

Hume, David, (1739 & 1740) “A Treatise of Human Nature”, with Introduction by Michael P. Levine, Barnes & Noble, 2005

Hutcheon, Pat Duffy, (1996) “Leaving the Cave: Evolutionary Naturalism in Social-Scientific Thought” Wilfrid Laurier University Press.

Locke, John, (1689), “An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding”. See edition published by Wordsworth Editions Ltd., 1998

Rapaport, Anatol, (1986), “General System Theory”, Abacus Press

Downloads

Published

2013-10-09

Issue

Vol. 15 (2007)

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Finch, R. D. (2013). HUME’S PHILOSOPHY OF HUMAN UNDERSTANDING. Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism, 15(1), 77-90. https://doi.org/10.1558/eph.v15i1.77