This is a book about the continuing influence of Hume's ideas on moral and political philosophy. In part, it is a critical exegesis of Hume's most impressive and challenging doctrines in Book III of the Treatise of Human Nature on such topics as morals, motivation, justice, and social institutions. However, the main thrust of the argument is to throw into relief the importance of that discussion for contemporary philosophy. While the author subjects most contemporary defenses of Humean doctrines to intense criticism, he also seeks to discover what versions of Hume's theories might still be defensible and viable.

Moral Motivation provides a history of moral motivation by ten eminent scholars, covering Plato, Aristotle, Spinoza, Locke, Hume, Kant, the consequentialists and others. It shows the complexity of the historical treatment of moral motivation and, moreover, how intertwined discussion of moral motivation is with central aspects of ethical theory.

The Handbook of Moral Motivation offers a contemporary and comprehensive appraisal of the age-old question about motivation to do the good and to prevent the bad. From a research point of view, this question remains open even though we present here a rich collection of new ideas and data. Two sources helped the editors to frame the chapters: first they looked at an overwhelmingly fruitful research tradition on motivation in general (attribution theory, performance theory, self-determination theory, etc.) in relationship to morality. The second source refers to the tension between moral judgment (feelings, beliefs) and the real moral act in a twofold manner: (a) as a necessary duty, and, (b) as a social but not necessary bond. In addition, the handbook utilizes the latest research from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives, wishing to suggest by this that the answer to the posed question will likely not come from one discipline alone. Furthermore, our hope is that the implicit criticism that the narrowly constructed research approach of the recent past has contributed to closing off rather than opening up interdisciplinary lines of research becomes in this volume a strong counter discourse. The editors and authors of the handbook commend the research contained within in the hope that it will contribute to better understanding of humanity as an inherently moral species.

"Contemporary ethical thought owes a great deal to David Hume whose work has inspired non-cognitivists, naturalists and error-theorists and stimulated the rival theories of Kant and contemporary Kantians. This timely volume assembles an distinguished cast of international scholars to discuss three themes from Hume. First, Hume's infamous claim that 'Reason is, and ought only to be, the slave of the passions', which seems to suggest that reason can choose between means but not ends; second, the Motivation Argument which purports to prove that 'the rules of morality . . . are not conclusions of our reason'; and third, Hume's treatment of the virtues, which is now the focus of renewed philosophical interest. The contributors discuss these issues and other matters arising from the Humean agenda"--OCLC

This collection is devoted to questions in meta-ethics and moral psychology arising from the work of David Hume. The collection focuses on questions arising from Hume's views on reason, motivation and virtue including new essays from notable Hume scholars.

David Hume (1711–1776) is widely acknowledged as one of the most important philosophers in the English language, with his work continuing to exert major influence on philosophy today. His empiricism, naturalism, and psychology of the mind and the passions shape many positions and approaches in the sciences and social sciences. The Humean Mind seeks to provide a comprehensive survey of his work, not only placing it in its historical context but also exploring its contemporary significance. Comprising 38 chapters by a team of international contributors the Handbook is divided into four sections: · Intellectual context · Hume’s thought · Hume’s reception · Hume’s legacy This handbook includes coverage of all major aspects of Hume’s thought with essays spanning the full scope of Hume’s philosophy. Topics explored include Hume’s reception in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; Hume’s legacy in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries; Hume’s history, including an essay on Hume as historian, as well as essays on the relevance of history to Hume’s philosophy and his politics, and an updated treatment of Hume’s Legal Philosophy. Also included are essays on race, gender, and animal ethics. Essential reading for students and researchers in philosophy, Hume’s work is central to epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, ethics, legal philosophy and philosophy of religion.

Publisher Description

Moral Motivation through the Life Span is the fifty-first volume in the Nebraska Symposium on Motivation series, the longest continuously running symposium in the field of psychology. This work focuses on moral development theory and research, an area of academic study that began early in the twentieth century but has never before been addressed by the Symposium. What is morality, such theorists ask, and what exactly makes a "moral person"? ø The contributors to this volume are of diverse theoretical orientations and take different stances on a number of major themes: What motivates moral behavior? Are there certain universal moral values, or are such values always subjective? Does an individual's will or an individual's environment play a greater role in determining moral conduct? What influence can we attribute to spirituality? Finally, the contributors explore the practical applications of their research on moral motivation: What implications do such theories have for child-rearing or our educational system? How do we raise the next generation to be empathetic toward their fellow human beings?

Rachel Cohon offers an original interpretation of the ethical thinking of the 18th-century philosopher David Hume. She focuses on two claims: that human beings figure out what is good or evil by using our feelings or emotions, and that some of the good traits we recognize are produced by informal social agreement and teaching.