This book will be of interest for the many who are concerned with Hume's discussion of personal identity, and particularly for those who want to explore whether the engaging yet controversial New Hume reading can be extended to address the interpretive puzzles of Hume's discussion of personal identity.

Journal of the History of Philosophy

The discussion throughout is lively and provocative

Tony Pitson, Philosophy

full as it is of provocative suggestions and ingenious and subtle arguments, it is one to learn from and to relish. It is a book no serious student of Hume can afford to ignore.

John Biro, Mind

The Evident Connexion presents a new reading of Hume's 'bundle theory' of the self or mind, and his later rejection of it. Galen Strawson argues that the bundle theory does not claim that there are no subjects of experience, as many have supposed, or that the mind is just a series of experiences. Hume holds only that the 'essence of the mind [is] unknown'. His claim is simply that we have no empirically respectable reason to believe in the existence of a persisting subject, or a mind that is more than a series of experiences (each with its own subject). Why does Hume later reject the bundle theory? Many think he became dissatisfied with his account of how we come to believe in a persisting self, but Strawson suggests that the problem is more serious. The keystone of Hume's philosophy is that our experiences are governed by a 'uniting principle' or 'bond of union'. But a philosophy that takes a bundle of ontologically distinct experiences to be the only legitimate conception of the mind cannot make explanatory use of those notions in the way Hume does. As Hume says in the Appendix to the Treatise of Human Nature: having 'loosen'd all our particular perceptions' in the bundle theory, he is unable to 'explain the principle of connexion, which binds them together'. This lucid book is the first to be wholly dedicated to Hume's theory of personal identity, and presents a bold new interpretation which bears directly on current debates among scholars of Hume's philosophy.
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The Evident Connexion presents a bold new reading of David Hume's famous 'bundle' theory of the self or mind, and his later rejection of it. Galen Strawson illuminates the 'uniting principle' of Hume's philosophy and argues that the bundle theory does not, as widely supposed, claim that there are no subjects of experience.
Les mer
1: EPISTEMOLOGY, SEMANTICS, AND ONTOLOGY; 2: MIND, SELF, AND PERSON; 3: HUME'S APPENDIX
A fascinating study of a famous topic in the history of philosophy The first book devoted to the topic Controversial new interpretation of Hume Strawson's work has had a profound influence on our understanding of Hume Highly relevant to current debates about the self and personal identity
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Galen Strawson is Professor of Philosophy at Reading University. Prior to that he was Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy at Jesus College, Oxford (1987-2000). From 2004 to 2007 he was also Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at CUNY Graduate Center in New York. He has held visiting positions at the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University (1993), New York University (1997), Rutgers University (2000), and MIT (2010). Strawson received his degrees from the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford, and studied at the Ecole normale supérieure and the Sorbonne in Paris (1977-1998).
Les mer
A fascinating study of a famous topic in the history of philosophy The first book devoted to the topic Controversial new interpretation of Hume Strawson's work has had a profound influence on our understanding of Hume Highly relevant to current debates about the self and personal identity
Les mer

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780199608508
Publisert
2011
Utgiver
Vendor
Oxford University Press
Vekt
388 gr
Høyde
223 mm
Bredde
151 mm
Dybde
19 mm
Aldersnivå
UP, 05
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
178

Forfatter

Biografisk notat

Galen Strawson is Professor of Philosophy at Reading University. Prior to that he was Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy at Jesus College, Oxford (1987-2000). From 2004 to 2007 he was also Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at CUNY Graduate Center in New York. He has held visiting positions at the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University (1993), New York University (1997), Rutgers University (2000), and MIT (2010). Strawson received his degrees from the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford, and studied at the Ecole normale supérieure and the Sorbonne in Paris (1977-1998).