David Humes Theory of Ethics Essay - 1675 Words

David Hume is considered to be one of the big three British empiricists, along with Hobbes and Locke, and lived near the end of the Enlightenment. The Catholic Church was losing its control over science, politics and philosophy and the Aristotelian world view was being swallowed up by a more mechanistic viewpoint. Galileo found the theory provided by Copernicus to be correct, that our earth was not the center of everything, but the celestial bodies including the earth circled the sun. Mathematicians abounded. Pascal developed the first mechanical calculator and Newtonian physics was breaking new ground. Not even the arts were immune. Within the same era Mary Shelley authored Frankenstein: or the Modern Prometheus. The main theme for this†¦show more content†¦The latter being the kind that he uses as a naturalist. David Humes most famous quote is â€Å"Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.† To understand the implications of this quote as a basis for an ethical theory you need to understand that every other ethical theory attempts to derive how things ought to be from how things are. The jumps from matters of fact and relations of ideas perceived by reason, to value judgments perceived by emotions, are made in Hume’s opinion with no logical reason. There is nothing contradictory in the statement the sun will not rise in the morning, it is not unreasonable. We only feel that it â€Å"ought to† continue rising in the morning. The scientific method uses inductive reasoning to construct a hypothesis and Hume does not contend that it should not be used. It has been useful thus far in making predictions and it is the only tool that we have for understanding the world around us. David Humes ethical theory sits between philosophy and modern day psychology. He uses the empirical method to study the natural tendencies of human beings to engage their emotions, and in our emotions is where morality could be understood best. One must rememberShow MoreRelatedHumes Ethics1047 Words   |  5 PagesHume’s Ethics Contents 1. Introduction 2. Hume’s ethics as an emotive theory of ethics 3. Conclusion 4. Bibliography David Hume is an outstanding Scottish philosopher of the 18th century whose views has a significant impact on the following generations of thinkers throughout the world. His sceptical arguments concerning induction, causation and especially religion, including his famous thesis that human knowledge arises only from sense experience and not from rational judgments, shaped theRead MoreThis semester we have been studying various philosophers, and from those philosophers only one has1000 Words   |  4 Pages This semester we have been studying various philosophers, and from those philosophers only one has been able to get ethics right and that would be David Hume. David Hume presents a very compelling argument to previous philosophers like St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine who tie their ethics to God, and in which Hume says we don’t need God to be ethical. David Hume goes on arguing that all humans have emotions and since we have emotions we should act on them instead of suppressing them. AnotherRead MoreMoral Reasoning And Ethical Decision Making1144 Words   |  5 PagesThere are various theories used to explain moral reasoning and ethical decision making. These theories are used to assist people in deciding between the right and wrong acts. One of these theories is the virtue ethics, which is used to determine whether an act is virtuous or vicious. David Hume and Aristotle were among the first philosophers to use virtue ethics to differentiate between virtues and vices. According to Hume, an act is virtuous if it represents what a virtuous person would characteristicallyRead MoreInto The Woods By Stephen Sondheim Essay1612 Words   |  7 Pagesa remarkable ethical problem that must be considered are the decisions taken by the Baker and his wife, and the Witch throughout the play, decisions that play a very important role throughout the play and the field of ethics. In fact, philosophers such as Immanuel Kant and David Hume– philosophers that extensibly contributed with ethical views regarding respect and dignity– may agree or disagree with the ethical decisions taken by the characters on specific instances. In fact, Kant and Hume haveRead MoreImmanuel Kant And Kant On Morality1097 Words   |  5 Pagessocieties. Examples would be don’t cheat, don’t steal, and treat others as you would want to be treated. When dealing with the philosophers take on morality, there are two which are usually compared to one another, Immanuel Kant and David Hume. Immanuel Kant had many theories throughout his philosophical time. Here are some of his ethical works, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785), the Critique of Practical Reason (1788), and the Metaphysics of Morals (1797), which contains both â€Å"the DoctrineRead MoreA Comparison Of Determinism And Free Will Theory1629 Words   |  7 Pages Magd Al Harbi A Comparison of Determinism Free Will Theory Kent State University Introduction One aspect of human existence that I think is particularly interesting is the extent of control of which we have over the decisions we make. In life, there are many decisions to be made, from simple ones that seem almost subconscious to complex decisions that can take days to ponder on. 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Learning about the different philosophers theories on moral judgment allows you to question your own morals while look ing at morality through a different lensRead MoreEssay about On Emotion and Value in David Hume and Max Scheler2870 Words   |  12 PagesOn Emotion and Value in David Hume and Max Scheler ABSTRACT: While some philosophers tend to exclude any significance of emotion for the moral life, others place them in the center of both the moral life and the theory of value judgment. This paper presents a confrontation of two classic positions of the second type, namely the position of Hume and Scheler. The ultimate goal of this confrontation is metatheoretical — particularly as it concerns the analysis of the relations between the idea ofRead MoreViewing Suicide from Kants and Humes Eyes1089 Words   |  5 PagesViewing Suicide from Kant’s and Hume’s eyes According to National Institute of Mental Health, â€Å"In 2007, it [suicide] was the tenth leading cause of death in the U.S., accounting for 34,598 deaths.† This statistic shows that even though the numbers compared to the entire population are small, it is rather common for people to deal with suicide around them and it is a major issue among people (NIMH). There are many different mixed emotions and views regarding suicide. Some people choose to believe