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"The picture of Hume clinging timidly to a raft of custom and artiface, because, poor skeptic, he has no alternative, is wrong", writes John Steward. "Hume was confident that by experience and reflection philosophers can achieve true principles". In this work Stewart surveys all of David Hume's major writings to reveal him as a liberal moral and political philosopher. Against the background of 17th and 18th century history and thought, Hume emerges as a proponent not of conservatism but of reform. Stewart first presents the dilemma over morals in the modern natural-law school, then examines the new approach to moral and political philosophy adopted by Hume's precursors Shaftesbury, Mandeville, Hutcheson, and Butler. Illuminating Hume's explanation of the standards and rules that should govern private and public life, the author challenges interpretations of Hume's philosophy as conservative by demonstrating that he did not dismiss reason as a key factor determining right and wrong in moral and political contexts.Steward goes on to show that Hume viewed private property, the market, contracts and the rule of law as essential to genuine civilized society, and explores Hume's criticism of contemporary British beliefs concerning government, religion, commerce, international relations and social structure. ... Read more

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On the subject of free will, Laird explains (p. 118-9) that according to Hume, human actions are no less determined than inanimate objects, and what they have in common is what Hume called "uniformity" - a kind of predictability.If human actions are far less predictable than, say, the orbit of Mars, that's no different from the unpredictability of the weather despite our great advances in meterology.Indeed, someday we may predict our earthly weather with incredible precision, but then we can probably never predict exactly when the human race may be wiped out by another giant asteroid. (Of course, by then the human race may have evolved to something quite inhuman.)Several mass extinctions have occurred in the past due to asteroids and we would be lucky to escape such a fate.But just because natural phenomena like these are UNPREDICTABLE does not mean they are not DETERMINED.For all we know another killer asteroid might have been hurtling through outer space head on for Earth for millions of years now.Given what we know of Earth's natural history, it would be surprising if this were not true.

Human actions are as unpredictable as such natural phenomena but no less determined, Hume argued.The only possible alternative is chance, or complete chaos with no rules whatsoever.And given these two alternatives, it is clear which one Hume chose.But many people believe that there should be a third alternative to complete determinism and total contingency, and here lies free will.Hume rejected this, and so do I.Laird, however, has difficulties with Hume's position.

I see increasing "uniformity" in human actions in light of modern knowledge about genes and the brain - what used to be quite unaccountable is now known to be physically explainable, and we have no more free will than a severe schizophrenic in the objective, philosophical sense if not in the moral or legal sense.

John Laird, the Regius Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen (elected FBA 1933), wrote this book some eight years before Norman Kemp Smith's groundbreaking work on Hume, and it must be reckoned a real classic in its own right.Kemp Smith's work is somewhat longer, but it also features Hume's quotes to greater lengths.(This must be what Ayer meant when he wrote that Kemp Smith actually paid attention to what Hume said rather than used Hume as a starting point for his own philosophical babble - which is a fault all too common among other authors, a fault I think Laird does not have.) Otherwise Laird's commentary is comparable to Kemp Smith's in quantity if not in quality.Kemp Smith himself acknowledged Laird in the very short bibliography in his own work.

The following are the chapters: Preface, List of Abbreviations, 1 Introductory, 2 The Principles of Sensory Phenomenalism, 3 Space, Time & External Existence, 4 Causality, Experiment & Induction, 5 Bodies & Mind, 6 Nature & Scepticism, 7 The Passions, 8 Ethics & the Sense of Humanity, 9 Politics, Economic History & Criticism, 10 Religion, Index.

Not surprisingly, the longest chapter is Chapter 4.

I wouldn't place this book above Kemp Smith's work but it must be clear that Kemp Smith benefited from fine Hume's studies before him, and Laird's work is one of those.This is a competent work on Hume's philosophy. ... Read more

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Publisher: London Hodder and StoughtonPublication date: 1896Notes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be numerous typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there. ... Read more

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This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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This is an indispensable guide to over 750 abbeys, churches and other places of worship. Scotland possesses a surprising range of buildings designed for worship, and the full range of this rich architectural and spiritual heritage is featured in this illustrated guide. These churches are spread across Scotland and across all the religious denominations, and contain a significant part of the nation's heritage. Entries include information on the history and architecture of the church, as well as opening times and details of services. ... Read more

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Originally published in 1817.This volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG 2000 format by Kirtas Technologies.All titles scanned cover to cover and pages may include marks notations and other marginalia present in the original volume. ... Read more