Hume

1 — Distinguish ideas, impressions, sensations, and passions.

2 — Distinguish original from reflective impressions.

Original impressions = SENSATIONS, no antecedent;

Secondary impressions = REFLECTIONS, come from ideas; passions, desires, emotions

• Calm impressions — sense of beauty 

Copy principle

Original impression of sensation —> idea —> secondary impression of reflection

3 — Direct vs. Indirect passions

Direct passions — from perception of pleasure/pain, good/evil; desire, aversion, hope, fear;

Indirect passions — require double relation; pride, humility, love, hate;

4 — Explain the cause and object of pride. What role does the double relation of impressions and ideas play in this passion?

Idea:cause —> impression: pride —> idea:object 

Cause — subject (linked to us) + quality; natural but not original

Object — self

4 — Natural (of cause)

arising naturally in humanity

4 — Original (of cause)

dedicated instinct in human software; distinct mental principle adapting each cause to passion

Common principle / cause of passions

Double relation of impressions & ideas 

Association/relation of ideas

resemblance; contiguity; cause & effect 

Association/relation of impressions

resemblance; cause subject’s positive quality leads to the passion of pride’s positive quality

5 — What is the Good?  How does Hume know this is The Good?

pleasure

6 — What is the relationship of virtue to pleasure? Of vice to pain? How does this relationship compare with Aristotle’s analysis of these relationships?

The essence of virtue is to produce pleasure; essence of vice to produce pain 

7 — What is a virtuous action? A vicious action?

A virtuous action inspires a general sentiment of pleasure that inspires the labeling of the action; it yields from a virtuous motive, which is within human nature 

8 — How does Hume define the self? How is it different from Aristotle’s?

connected succession of impressions; There is no substrate nor self; The idea of a single substrate “self” beneath these experiences is fictitious, purely inferred through the imagination;

Accident:substance :: perceptions:idea of self 

Hume denies that the self is substantial and unified, Aristotle believes that it is. 

Aristotle asserts that the self (the soul) is the form of our matter, animating us.

9 — Distinguish liberty from chance.

Liberty is the idea that we may act non-necessarily, a free will;

Chance, or “liberty of indifference” is the complete negation of cause and effect; Hume rejects chance, all bodies’ actions are necessary, all matter has an absolute fate  

10 — What is the relationship of a virtuous character to a virtuous action?

Because humans are causal, we know that virtuous actions result from a virtuous character or motive.

We can deem a non-acting character virtuous through the imagination. 

11 — Compare and contrast Hume’s concept of moral responsibility to Aristotle’s conception.

Hume does not believe in an active moral responsibility, because natural virtues already have innate motives, and the motives of artificial virtues are extensions of natural self-interest.

He denies that passions (within motives) can be influenced by obligation, duty, or will. 

Aristotle believed that we must develop virtue 

12 — Compare and contrast Hume’s concept of justice to Aristotle’s conception.

Hume’s justice is an artificial virtue arising from social convention and self-interest. The formation of society protects humans from their natural infirmity and needs. Natural self-interest expands into desire for the good of society through trained sympathy, the individual imagining their own security from universal agreement. 

Aristotle finds justice to result from reason and law

12 — Sympathy

original principle of human nature; innate but must be trained;

imagination: Effect —> cause —> effect

see someone grimace (effect), get the idea of the pain (cause), experience passion sympathetically (effect)

Why are our sympathy-based moral sentiments steady? 

We correct our perceptions through imagination (reflection); we remove our (biased) selves to a general, steady POV

Is the imagination rational?

no — it is neither speculative nor practical

Why is sympathy expansive but weak?

passions must precede an action; Sympathy relies on imagination, which is a weaker activation of the human mind 

Disinterested observer POV + sympathy = feeling what others feel, emotional contagion 

13 — What influence does reason have on the human will, according to Hume?

reason has no influence on the human will; He considers the will to be based in passions, which are the cause of our actions; Passions have no truth value and thus can’t be governed by reason (true or false). 

Our will is “free” (from coercion) but subject to necessity, cause and effect. 

Reason is either speculative or practical.  

Are morals derived from reason?

No — reason is inert and inactive

It would need to be a relation of ideas (necessary, a priori) or matter of fact (experience, a posteriori). 

It can’t be relation of ideas — resemblance; contrariety; degrees in quality; proportion.

Not necessity — parricide, incxst aren’t universal 

Do we have free will?

No; the motion of bodies is analogous to human action; both uniform and in constant conjunction, allowing the inference of cause. 

Why is the will/actions necessary?

Necessity is essential to morality; we can only judge morality with certainty by recognizing the link between motives and actions; an objectionable motive is necessarily connected to the horrific action

Reward enforces behavior and punishment deters behavior 

Virtue

judgment based on a sentiment

Natural virtues

motive is directly in human nature; immediately agreeable/useful to ourselves or others 

Artificial virtues

motive is based in human nature but modified by social convention 

Prudential ought

conditional, specific “ought” able to be obtained from an “is”