A SENSE OF HUME

Here is by now almost customary (albeit not necessary) selection of our philosopher’s-de-jour bon mots. In this latest case, this philosopher is David Hume. As always, his quotes come in blue, while my comments go in red.---

“Beauty is no quality in things themselves: it exists merely in the mind which contemplates them.”

It is difficult to agree with Hume that beauty is not a transcendent quality of aesthetically perfect things, but a case of subjectivity in the eye of the beholder, or a matter of perception, to remember Bishop Berkeley. In marginal cases this is probably the case, but aren’t there genuine “things of beauty,” not dependent on any temporal fads or peculiar cultural statements. One thing cannot be denied to Hume, though: he raises a very good and important question, even if presenting it to us in the form of an answer.

“Generally speaking, the errors in religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous.”

Superficially this is true, but what about the dangers of false ideology, and what about the gray area where religion meets philosophy? To put this more accurately, the difference between dangerous and ridiculous is in the severity of the political consequences of the error, rather than in the nature of the discipline where the error has been produced.

“When men are most sure and arrogant they are commonly most mistaken, giving views to passion without that proper deliberation which alone can secure them from the grossest absurdities.”

Not necessarily, of course, with regard to the first part, but obviously, and almost truistically, passion does induce a certain blindness which compromises judgment.

“Nothing is more surprising than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few.”

I would substitute the word governed by the word brainwashed, to sharpen the sting, because there is little or no cure for the brainwashed, but the cure for the governed is always a revolution, or to put it in a modern setting, a regime change.

“It is not reason which is the guide of life, but custom.”

This is a very famous adage of Hume, and one can normally agree with this, provided all other things being normal.

“The heights of popularity and patriotism are still the beaten road to power and tyranny; flattery to treachery; standing armies to arbitrary government; and the glory of God to the temporal interest of the clergy.”

Almost truistic, but very much worth quoting.

“Truth springs from argument amongst friends.”

This is probably the best known quote of Hume, but usually omitting “amongst friends,” and almost never quoted with proper attribution.

“Eloquence, at its highest pitch, leaves little room for reason or reflection, but addresses itself entirely to the desires and affections, captivating the willing hearers, and subduing their understanding.”

Once again this boils down to the triumph of passion over reason. The next quote makes it clear.---

“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.”

See the previous quote, and my comment to it. What makes it different, of course, is Hume’s paradoxical claim of desirability of this situation, which is, naturally, consistent with Hume’s anti-rationalist critique of all philosophy and philosophers.

“And what is the greatest number? Number one.”

Splendid! One cannot possibly argue with that. And, surely, expounding on it would be disrespectful to the reader.

This is the end of the Hume series.