Introduction

Charles R. Pigden

pp. 1-29

in: Charles R. Pigden (ed), Hume on motivation and virtue, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009

Abstract

We come to Hume to argue, not to praise him For Hume's philosophy lives after him And since it's not interrèd with his bones Like dead men's thought that lives, it lives because We think that it contains important truths (Truths that illuminate the nature of Morality, the mind and reason too, The 'sentiments' that make us do our duty, The role of passion and the sense of beauty); Or think that Hume is wrong, but that his faults Are kissing cousins to important truths (So, loving truth, we love the truths they"re like); Or think him wrong, but think that when he errs They"re mighty errors, great and grand mistakes, That represent temptations of the mind Which must be wrestled with and overcome That we may learn to see these things aright. But if we seek to learn from David Hume, We cannot hope to learn without debate, His ideas must be tested in the fire Of criticism if we are to find The philosophic gold that lies within. For philosophic truth is our concern Above all else;

Cited authors

Hume David