Saturday, September 04, 2004

A Bit about Hume

The most recent edition of Hume Studies came in the mail yesterday; as usual it has some goodies. One of the particularly interesting bits is a transcription of Hume's pamphlet for Archibald Stewart. Stewart was a Scot accused of dereliction of duty when the Jacobite rebellion flooded out from the Highlands in 1745; Stewart turned Edinburgh over to the rebels. The pamphlet argues that Edinburgh was indefensible and could not have withstood siege. Among other things the pamphlet is interesting for its scathing denunciation of religious Whigs, to whom it attributes the vices of "Dissimulation, Hypocrisy Violence, Calumny, Selfishness".

Also of interest is "Philo's Argument for Divine Amorality Reconsidered," by Klaas Kraay; it looks to be as interesting as all of Klaas's work.