PASSIONS AND ACTION
How does belief produce
action?
Direct and Indirect Passions
An example of Indirect
Passions: Pride and Humility
We will discuss pride and humility as illustrative of Hume's
approach to all the passions.
The Fourfold Distinction:
(1) Cause: (a) Subject of
Cause and (b) Quality of Cause.
(2) Effect: (a) Object and (b)
Sensation.
Examples: Pride and humility.
The Double Relation of Ideas
and Impressions:
2(a) corresponds to (1)(a) and 2(b) corresponds to (1)(b).
Is Hume's account of pride
and humility correct?
The Comparative Element: Why did Hume leave it out of the account of
these passions?
IS THE HUME OF BOOK 3, PART 1 A MOTIVATIONAL
NON-COGNITIVIST?
Non-Cognitivism
about the Passions: The passions have nothing
to do with what is true or false. They
are simply blind source of motivation, and thus can never themselves be
rational or irrational.
Cognitivism about the Passions:
Whether or not a particular passion is an appropriate one is a
fact. When a passion is, it is rational;
when it is not appropriate, it is irrational.
If you knew nothing else
about Hume's account of the passions, would you classify Hume's account of
pride and humility as cognitivist or non-cognitivist?
HUMILITY AS A VIRTUE AND PRIDE AS A VICE
According to Hume, virtue
causes pleasure in us and vice cause pain.
But he also claims that humility is a virtue and pride is a vice. Since pride causes pleasure, shouldn't it be
a virtue? Since humility causes pain,
shouldn't it be a vice? How would Hume
respond?
A Logical Puzzle: If humility is a virtue, then on Hume's
account, humility would make us proud. If
pride is a vice, then on Hume's account pride would make us humble. Whenever we feel pride or humility, why doesn't
that trigger an endless cycle of pride alternating with humility?
How would Hume solve this
puzzle?
The Importance of the Passions
in Hume's
Psychology of the Self
An Addition to Hume's
"Bundle" Theory of the Self:
The Self is not just a structured bundle of perceptions and ideas. The perceptions include passions that take
the self as object.
Self-concern = the desire for
pleasure and to avoid pain in the bundle of perceptions and ideas that that
very desire is a part of.
Question: Is this an adequate conception of
self-concern?
Take note of Hume's
discussion of the other passions, especially Love.