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A unifying theme of Loeb's work is epistemological - that Descartes
and Hume advance theories of knowledge that rely on a substantial
'naturalistic' component, adopting one or another member of a
cluster of psychological properties of beliefs as the goal of
inquiry and the standard for assessing belief-forming mechanisms.
Thus Loeb shows a surprising affinity between the epistemologies of
the two figures -- surprising because they are often thought of as
polar opposites in this respect.
Descartes and Hume are unique in that their philosophical texts are
accessible beyond just a narrow audience in the history of
philosophy; their ideas continue to be a vital part of the field at
large. This volume will thus appeal to advanced students and
scholars not just in the history of early modern philosophy but in
epistemology and other core areas of the discipline.
The distinguished philosopher Louis Loeb examines the epistemological framework of Scottish philosopher David Hume, as employed in his celebrated work A Treatise of Human Nature. Loeb's project is to advance an integrated interpretation of Hume's accounts of belief and justification. His thesis is that Hume, in his Treatise, has a "stability-based" theory of justification which posits that his belief is justified if it is the result of a belief producing mechanism that engenders stable beliefs. But Loeb argues that the striking (if paradoxical) corollary to this theory is that no belief generating mechanism is fully stable - or fully justified - for a fully reflective person. This carefully argued and original interpretation of Hume makes sense of seemingly contradictory ideas and will provoke serious discussion among Hume scholars.
A unifying theme of Loeb's work is epistemological - that Descartes
and Hume advance theories of knowledge that rely on a substantial
'naturalistic' component, adopting one or another member of a
cluster of psychological properties of beliefs as the goal of
inquiry and the standard for assessing belief-forming mechanisms.
Thus Loeb shows a surprising affinity between the epistemologies of
the two figures -- surprising because they are often thought of as
polar opposites in this respect.
Descartes and Hume are unique in that their philosophical texts are
accessible beyond just a narrow audience in the history of
philosophy; their ideas continue to be a vital part of the field at
large. This volume will thus appeal to advanced students and
scholars not just in the history of early modern philosophy but in
epistemology and other core areas of the discipline.
David Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature is famous for its extreme
skepticism. Louis Loeb argues that Hume's destructive conclusions
have in fact obscured a constructive stage that Hume abandons
prematurely.
Working within a philosophical tradition that values tranquillity,
Hume favors an epistemology that links justification with settled
belief. Hume appeals to psychological stability to support his own
epistemological assessments, both favorable regarding causal
inference, and unfavorable regarding imaginative propensities. The
theory's success in explaining Hume's epistemic distinctions gives
way to pessimism, since Hume contends that reflection on beliefs is
deeply destabilizing. So much the worse, Hume concludes, for
placing a premium on reflection. Hume endorses and defends the
position that stable beliefs of unreflective persons are justified,
though they would not survive reflection. At the same time, Hume
relishes the paradox that unreflective beliefs enjoy a preferred
epistemic status and strains to establish it. Loeb introduces a
series of amendments to the Treatise that secures a more positive
result for justified belief while maintaining Hume's fundamental
principles.
In his review of Hume's applications of his epistemology, Loeb
uncovers a stratum of psychological doctrine beyond associationism,
a theory of conditions in which beliefs are felt to conflict and of
the resolution of this uneasiness or dissonance. This theory of
mental conflict is also essential to Hume's strategy for
integrating empiricism about meaning with his naturalism. However,
Hume fails to provide a general account of the conditions in which
conflicting beliefs lead to persisting instability, sohis theory is
incomplete.
Loeb explores Hume's concern with stability in reference to his
discussions of belief, education, the probability of causes,
unphilosophical probability, the belief in body, sympathy and moral
judgment, and the passions, among other topics.
Title: Via Crucis. A romance of the Second Crusade ... Illustrated
by Louis Loeb.Publisher: British Library, Historical Print
EditionsThe British Library is the national library of the United
Kingdom. It is one of the world's largest research libraries
holding over 150 million items in all known languages and formats:
books, journals, newspapers, sound recordings, patents, maps,
stamps, prints and much more. Its collections include around 14
million books, along with substantial additional collections of
manuscripts and historical items dating back as far as 300 BC.The
GENERAL HISTORICAL collection includes books from the British
Library digitised by Microsoft. This varied collection includes
material that gives readers a 19th century view of the world.
Topics include health, education, economics, agriculture,
environment, technology, culture, politics, labour and industry,
mining, penal policy, and social order. ++++The below data was
compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic
record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool
in helping to insure edition identification: ++++ British Library
Crawford, Francis Marion; Loeb, Louis; 1899. 401 p.; 8 .
012630.l.49.
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