Morals, Motivation, and Convention: Hume's Influential Doctrines

Description

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.

"...there is substantial contemporary interest in the Humean doctrines and arguments which Snare scrupulously lays out and criticizes. Many people have discussed these themes in various ways, but I don't know of a clearer, more careful, and sounder treatment of them than Snare's." Stephen Darwall, University of Michigan