Hume on unobservable entities

Making the Unobservable, Unobservable

Behavioural equivalences of various calculi for modelling distributed systems differ significantly because the properties which can be observed through interaction depend heavily upon their mode of communication. A typical approach to describing the semantics of communicating processes is to provide a labelled transition system (lts) which captures the interaction potential of the individual pr...

Hume on Testimony Revisited

Among contemporary epistemologists of testimony, David Hume is standardly regarded as a ‘global reductionist’, where global reductionism requires the hearer to have sufficient first-hand knowledge of the facts in order to individually ascertain the reliability of the testimony in question. In the present paper, I argue that, by construing Hume’s reductionism in too individualistic a fashion, th...

Hume on well-being

Hume on Personal Identity

First, Hume notes that we have a strong inclination to call something the “same” even when it is radically different. For instance, remove a chunk of matter from some object and we call it the same. A mature oak tree is said to be the “same” as the sapling. A fat adult is said to be the “same” as the tiny infant. So strong is this inclination that philosophers have attempted to explain identity...

Hume, the New Hume, and Causal Connections

HUME STUDIES' Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the HUME STUDIES archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Each copy of any part of a HUME STUDIES transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on th...