Hume’s Moral Philosophy and Contemporary Psychology

399 Pages·2018·1.603 MB·English

by  Philip A. Reed, Rico Vitz

Hume’s Moral Philosophy and
Contemporary Psychology
Hume’s Moral Philosophy and Contemporary Psychology is an exceptionally
interesting and illuminating reflection on Hume’s contributions to moral
philosophy and in particular its relations, both methodological and doctrinal,
to contemporary cognitive psychology.
— John Bricke, Professor of Philosophy Emeritus,
University of Kansas
Recent work at the intersection of moral philosophy and the philosophy of
psychology has dealt mostly with Aristotelian virtue ethics. The dearth of
scholarship that engages with Hume’s moral philosophy, however, is both
noticeable and peculiar. H ume’s Moral Philosophy and Contemporary
Psychology demonstrates how Hume’s moral philosophy comports with
recent work from the empirical sciences and moral psychology. It shows
how contemporary work in virtue ethics has much stronger similarities
to the metaphysically thin conception of human nature that Hume
developed, rather than the metaphysically thick conception of human
nature that Aristotle espoused. It also reveals how contemporary work
in moral motivation and moral epistemology has strong affinities with
themes in Hume’s sympathetic sentimentalism.
Philip A. Reed is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Canisius College, USA,
where he also codirects the Ethics and Justice Programs. His main areas of
interest are in ethics, political philosophy, and moral psychology. His articles
on Hume’s moral psychology appear in such places as H istory of Philosophy
Quarterly , P acific Philosophical Quarterly , and Canadian Journal of
Philosophy. He has also published articles in Ethical Theory and Moral
Practice, J ournal of Medicine and Philosophy, and Christian Bioethics.
Rico Vitz is Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at
Azusa Pacific University, USA, and serves as the Executive Vice President-
Treasurer of the Hume Society. He is the author of Reforming the Art of
Living: Nature, Virtue, and Religion in Descartes’s Epistemology, co-editor
of T he Ethics of Belief: Individual and Social , and the editor of T urning
East: Contemporary Philosophers and the Ancient Christian Faith.
Routledge Studies in Eighteenth-Century Philosophy
Kant and the Cultivation of Virtue
Chris W. Surprenant
The Post-Critical Kant
Understanding the Critical Philosophy through the Opus postumum
Bryan Wesley Hall
Kant’s Inferentialism
The Case Against Hume
David Landy
Rousseau’s Ethics of Truth
A Sublime Science of Simple Souls
Jason Neidleman
Kant and the Scottish Enlightenment
Edited by Elizabeth Robinson and Chris W. Surprenant
Kant and the Reorientation of Aesthetics
Finding the World
Joseph J. Tinguely
Hume’s Science of Human Nature
Scientific Realism, Reason, and Substantial Explanation
David Landy
Hume’s Moral Philosophy and Contemporary Psychology
Edited by Philip A. Reed and Rico Vitz
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Hume’s Moral Philosophy
and Contemporary
Psychology
Edited by Philip A. Reed
and Rico Vitz
First published 2018
by Routledge
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For Don Garrett and David Solomon, with gratitude

Contents
List of Abbreviations ix
Preface x
CHRISTIAN B. MILLER
Acknowledgments xii
Introduction: Hume’s Moral Philosophy and
Contemporary Psychology: An Overview 1
PHILIP A. REED
1 Beyond the “Disease of the Learned”: Hume on Passional
Disorders 9
MARGARET WATKINS
2 Hume on the Rarity of Virtue 40
PHILIP A. REED
3 Spontaneity, Intuition, and Humean Virtue 63
ERIN FRYKHOLM
4 Character, Culture, and Humean Virtue Ethics: Insights
From Situationism and Confucianism 91
RICO VITZ
5 Empathy, Autism, and Hume 115
KATHARINA PAXMAN
6 Cultivating Empathic Concern and Altruistic Motivation:
Insights From Hume and Batson 142
ANNETTE PIERDZIWOL
viii Contents
7 Preserving Practicality: In Defense of Hume’s Sympathy-
Based Ethics 170
LORENZO GRECO
8 Hume, Bloom, and Moral Inclusion 191
ANNE JAAP JACOBSON
9 Empathy, Interdependency, and Morality: Building From
Hume’s Account 208
LORRAINE L. BESSER
10 The Philosophical Power of Hume’s Notion of Love 226
CHRISTINE SWANTON
11 Hume on the Methods and Limits of the Science of Human
Nature 243
SAUL TRAIGER
12 Hume on Moral Motivation 263
MICHAEL B. GILL
13 Passionate Regulation and the Practicality of Reason 287
ELIZABETH S. RADCLIFFE
14 Hume on Affective Leadership 311
ERIC SCHLIESSER
Conclusion: Hume’s Moral Philosophy and Contemporary
Psychology: Future Directions 334
RICO VITZ
Contributors’ Information 345
Bibliography 349
Index 377
Abbreviations
DP Hume, David. 2008. A Dissertation on the Passions . In A
Dissertation on the Passions; The Natural History of Religion:
A Critical Edition . Edited by Tom L. Beauchamp. Oxford:
Clarendon Press.
EHU Hume, David. 2006. An Enquiry concerning Human
Understanding . Edited by Tom L. Beauchamp. Oxford:
Clarendon Press.
EMPL Hume, David. 1987. Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary.
Revised Edition. Edited by Eugene F. Miller. Indianapolis, IN:
Liberty Classics.
EPM Hume, David. 2006. A n Enquiry concerning the Principles
of Morals . Edited by Tom L. Beauchamp. Oxford: Clarendon
Press.
NHR Hume, David. 2008. The Natural History of Religion. In A
Dissertation on the Passions; The Natural History of Religion:
A Critical Edition . Edited by Tom L. Beauchamp. Oxford:
Clarendon Press.
SBN When preceded by ‘EHU’: Hume, David. 1975. A n Enquiry
concerning Human Understanding. In Enquiries concerning
Human Understanding and concerning the Principles of
Morals . 3rd Edition. Edited by L. A. Selby-Bigge. Revised by
P. H. Nidditch. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
When preceded by ‘EPM’: Hume, David. 1975. A n Enquiry
concerning the Principles of Morals. In Enquiries concerning
Human Understanding and the Principles of Morals . 3rd
Edition. Edited by L. A. Selby-Bigge. Revised by P. H. Nidditch.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
When preceded by ‘T’: Hume, David. 1978. A Treatise of
Human Nature . 2nd Edition. Edited by L. A. Selby-Bigge.
Revised by P. H. Nidditch. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
T Hume, David. 2000. A Treatise of Human Nature . Edited by
David Fate Norton and Mary J. Norton. Oxford: Clarendon
Press.
Letters Hume, David. 2011. The Letters of David Hume . Edited by
J.Y.T. Greig. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press.