[lit-ideas] Re: On being called a Lyre
- From: Robert Paul <rpaul@xxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 05 Oct 2008 16:33:58 -0700
A few weeks back, Phil wrote, re Hume's conviviality
There are worse drinking companions. I am particularly in agreement
with Hume on the importance and role of 'custom', which seems to be an
underdeveloped aspect in Hume scholarship.
and Walter replied
------> I'm not quite up to date on Hume scholarship, but I would be very
interested in learning about Hume's views as to how custom could possess any
epistemic value in the justification of moral deliberation and judgement. Nazis
appealed to "custom."
I'm not sure where Hume talks of custom (or habit's) being of 'epistemic
value' in justifying moral judgments. Custom and habit refer to what
one's become accustomed to through experience (the water's consistently
boiling when heated, e.g.). Since we can't demonstrate that it will in
future boil when heated, it's custom or habit that give us the strong
expectation that it will. We can't prove that things will (for the most
part) continue as before but we feel that they will. I don't know of any
passages in which Hume appeals to custom or habit as part of our moral
reasoning, although that in itself is evidence of nothing.
About Nazis. I need more help with this. The closest German translation
of custom and habit that I could find is der Brauch. Brauch has other,
slightly variant meanings, but I'll bet that a German translation of
Hume would use this one.
'Custom,' in Hume's sense doesn't mean 'ritual' or 'practice.'
I hope that Walter will explain just how the Nazis appealed to custom in
a way that is compatible with Hume's use of this notion.
Robert Paul
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