Customer Reviews

Hume (Arguments of the Philosophers)

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This is a beautifully written expose of Hume's philosophy; it is clear, well-presented, and extremely useable. Professor Stroud is to be commended for this addition to the series. Having a theological background--philosophy is sometimes difficult for me to make sense of--this book helped me feel less obtuse about David Hume and his philosophy. It is nicely thought out, laid out, and presented in terms the regular person can understand, particularly if they are working through philosophy on their own. A book well worth the money!

I bought this book because I wanted a short, clear, well-written overview of Hume's philosophy. Unfortunately this book isn't what I expected.
First, this isn't a general overview. The author goes into a great deal of detail on some points (such as Hume's theories of perception), while other major aspects of Hume's thought are totally ignored (such as his views of religion). And the prose is far from simple. Rather than simply describing Hume's arguments, the author engages and critiques the ideas at length. This is complicated stuff, and it takes quite a bit of effort to follow the arguments.
If you want to know about Hume's major theories in great detail, you might be interested in this book. But if you just want an introduction to Hume, you should definitely look elsewhere.

This book is not an intro to Hume -- rather, it is a very clear, accessible discussion of the merits of Hume's basic positions (e.g. his views on causation, personal identity, etc.). I would highly recommend this book for someone who has some familiarity with Hume's basic views, and is looking to understand Hume a little more deeply by examining the merits and drawbacks of his positions.