Springs and Principles of the Universe: David Hume on Laws and Causes

FAIN: FEL-268224-20

Michael Linos Jacovides
Purdue University (West Lafayette, IN 47907-2040)

My project is to write a coherent, developmental account of David Hume’s opinions on laws of nature, causes, and miracles. His views on these topics are of central interest for historians of philosophy, metaphysicians, epistemologists, philosophers of science, and philosophers of religion. The views that are generally attributed to him don’t cohere as a whole and many of these attributions aren’t well grounded in the texts. This state of affairs arises from the fact that previous commentators haven’t stepped back and presented a unified and historically sophisticated picture of Hume’s views on laws and causes. If my work is successful, it will upturn not just what people think about Hume, but also what they think about the philosophical positions that he advanced or that he was supposed to have advanced.