Description: "Was David Hume radically sceptical about our attempts to understand the world or was he merely approaching philosophical problems from a scientific perspective? Most philosophers today believe that Hume's outlook was more scientific than radically sceptical and that his scepticism was more limited than previously supposed. If these philosophers are correct, then Hume's approach to philosophy mirrors the approach of many contemporary philosophers. This similarity between Hume and many aspects of contemporary philosophy suggests that we should try to understand Hume not as an historical relic but as a partner in a continuing philosophical dialogue. When we look closely at Hume's thoughts about human understanding, we find that Hume's scepticism emerges very insistently in the context of Hume's scientific approach. This book tries to come to terms with Hume's scepticism in a way that sheds light on contemporary philosophy and its relationship to science"--
Review Quotes:
"Kevin Meeker's extremely stimulating book is self-consciously set against scholarly consensus. ... I have only been able to give a flavour of Meeker's book, and it is something that should be read by anyone interested in Hume's epistemology." (P. J. E. Kail, Dialectica, Vol. 69 (4), December, 2015)
"Kevin Meeker is the secret hero of recent Hume scholarship; he patiently and with careful and clear arguments returned it from the darkness which had engulfed it. Meeker's book will let more in on the secret: it forces us all to confront the radical skepticism at the heart of Hume's philosophy. In addition he uses Hume's philosophy to illuminate later philosophers (especially Quine) and helps us think more wisely with Hume about on-going debates in contemporary philosophy (especially epistemology and philosophy of religion)." - Eric Schliesser, Ghent University