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Political Thought > David Hume > Flashcards

David Hume Flashcards

1
Q

What are philosophers often categorized as?

A

Makers or breakers

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2
Q

Makers

A

contribute to new ideas on how to set up the world or a new society

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3
Q

Breakers

A

critical of existing philosophers trying to improve

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4
Q

What is Hume most famous for?

A

being an outstanding critical philosopher

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5
Q

What does Hume set himself up to be?

A

“steal man”

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6
Q

Who does Hume befriend?

A

Jean Jacques Rousseau

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7
Q

What book has royalties that will set him up for the rest of his life as a public intellectual?

A

History of England

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8
Q

What kind of era was he writing in?

A

major scientific advances were being made

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9
Q

What did Hume want to do?

A

understand the human mind the way Newton understood the physical world

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10
Q

What does his book Treatise of Human Nature attempt?

A

understand human mind

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11
Q

what is believed to set humans apart?

A

rationality

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12
Q

Do we make decisions based on feelings or rationality?

A

feelings

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13
Q

What does Hume believe reason to be?

A

“slave of passions”

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14
Q

what are moral distinctions derived from?

A

moral sentiments
feelings of approval or disapproval felt by spectators who contemplate a character trait or action

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15
Q

what was a large criticism on Descarte’s belief?

A

convictions to reason
NOT reason to convictions
used to define his criticisms of social contract theory

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16
Q

Why shouldn’t you base morals on rational thought?

A

passions outweigh reason

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17
Q

What would advocates of natural law say?

A

eternal truths are as apparent at 2+2=4
Hume disagrees

18
Q

What proof does he use to demonstrate that eternal truths aren’t apparent?

A

Parricide is not the same for humans as it is for trees
subjective morality determines its wrongness

19
Q

What idea does Hume acknowledge that we’ve talked about before?

A

Instrumental rationality

20
Q

What does reason serve as?

A

a means to an end but cannot determine what the end is

21
Q

What determines what the end is?

A

passion

22
Q

What can reason tell you?

A

how to reach an end but not how to care about it

23
Q

Who’s statement of the social contract theory does Hume criticize?

A

Locke

24
Q

What does Hume not dispute?

A

necessity for government

25
Q

What does Hume note about the social contract theory?

A

no societies were actually formed

26
Q

What is history littered with?

A

examples of societies starting via force (like machiavelli advocates)

27
Q

what is the legitimacy of regime based on?

A

custom or habit

28
Q

what does it mean with people being born into political societies?

A

they aren’t actually granting their consent to join

29
Q

What does Locke think that Hume disagrees with?

A

takes care of people and consent via tacit consent

30
Q

what does Hume say is needed for social contract theory to work?

A

voluntary consent - in reality the only consent given is the act of staying in the country

31
Q

is the standard by which you no longer need to obey the government the violation of a contract or violating common sense?

A

violating common sense

32
Q

they say he may say he supports the necessity of government but what does his criticisms of the social contract imply?

A

the world we live in should just be a free for all

33
Q

does Hume set out to destroy or strengthen social contract theory?

A

strengthen it by making the argument more defensible

34
Q

what does Hume believe

A

government is necessary and in the interest of all involved

35
Q

what does Hume say would happen without rules?

A

we would descend into chaos

36
Q

what can his general skepticism be used as

A

to justify the status quo

37
Q

how does he view institutions

A

stable and unoppressive so he wants to tamp down arguments to change it

38
Q

what does Hume refer to justice as?

A

“artificial virtue”

39
Q

reason

A

may not get you to care about justice, but it can tell you how to achieve justice

40
Q

how is justice determined?

A

a set of rules that are based on the idea that people tried living without them and couldn’t

41
Q

justice set of rules

A

rules of property
rules of transferring property
rules or promising

Political Thought (9 decks)

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