David Hume Impact on Philosophy During Enlightenment Era (Essay Sample)

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David Hume's Impact during the Enlightenment Era
David Hume was a Scottish philosopher and writer who is remembered for paving the way for the skeptical school of thought that is being applied up to now by the modern philosophers. As a dogmatic skeptic, Hume devoted a substantial part of his work investigating the human reasoning limits. He wanted to be a lawyer but decided to devote his time to philosophy and writing.
The ‘A Treatise of Human Nature’ (1739) is considered as Hume’s major work. It is a book that was widely ignored at first following its prose that was deemed as complicated but is now highly regarded. He then made up for the earlier oversight in the book ‘An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding’ in 1978, where he rearticulated more of the similar material but in an approach that was more approachable (Hume 1).
His studies, which have now become fundamental in the current Western philosophy, focus mostly on perception, reason, and particularly morals. Hume major concern was whether sense and hence perception could be trusted with regards to a consistent outlook of the world. Taking into consideration morality, Hume believed that if someone found a specific action to be reasonable, then such an action had to be a morally appropriate move to take. By including this individual, introspective layer to the issues of morality and perception, Hume is believed to have stripped the world of philosophy of its generalizations.
Hume indeed believed in the unrelentingly skeptical that everything remained subject to some level of uncertainty. Despite how Hume felt about the ideas in the Enlightenment era, he kept going back to his main thought; because man will never understand anything beyond his doubt, why should he then bother? (Hume 1). He also used his skeptical approach to religion and science, insisting that even if neither of the two was capable of explaining anything fully, science stood as being stronger now that it was in a position to admit that it can never be correct absolutely.
The philosophy approach by Hume is regarded as being remarkable for its revolutionary insights both in the past and in the modern world and its continuity vitality as well as its ability to inspire and provoke ideas. During his early days, his philosophy prompted Thomas Reid to come up with a theory to rival his idea of the mind of human beings and hence giving rise to the common sense school of thought mostly used by the Scottish.
At the same time, his pioneering essays on politics, society, and economics served as an inspiration to his younger friends Adam Ferguson and Adam Smith (Hume 1). In the generations that followed, Immanuel Kant is said to have been awakening from his rigid slumbers after reading the works of Hume and later responded by coming up with an idealistic system that after its introduction remained dominant in the world philosophy school of thought up to the 19th century.
It was the works of Hume again in the 20th century that inspired what is believed to be the first influential reaction by Bertrand Russell against Kantian idealism. The reaction later resulted in the modern analytical philosophy development. His works also inspired what were at that time the logical Vienna Circle positivists and associated like Karl Popper and A.J. Ayer (Hume 1).
In the 21st century, Hume remains one of the most provocative and fertile of all the great thinkers in history with his theories being cited in most works by contemporary scholars and philosophers. His name has also over the years until now been appropriated in the manner it has endured the fundamental ideas in ethics, epistemology, language, philosophy of action, mathematics, and religion.
The main project by David Hume was to come up with science that was of human nature, a science that stripped of dogma while at the same time based on careful argument and observable fact. By doing this, he, therefore, gave way to cognitive science. Cognitive science is considered as being an interdisciplinary enterprise that is vibrant combining psychology, philosophy, artificial intelligence, and neuroscience.
However, the science of man by Hume extends way beyond the mind of an individual, into the fundamental concerns of society, morals, economic behavior, political and religious belief. Specifically Hume’s moral theory, which was based on the emotions and empathy rather than logic or theology, continues up to the modern date to put a profound influence in different works in philosophy.
The philosophy approach by Hume in uniquely relevant to the fostering of interdisciplinary approaches and cross-collaborative approaches to modern global changes; with the modern world that is in disarray, experiencing religious, economic, and environmental crises like it has never been seen since the 18th century, the world requires a visionary thought that is well enlightened so as to facilitate responses that are measured on such threats to the human social, cultural, political, and economic well-being.
The works and publications by David Hume have challenged the modern society to ask themselves some important questions such as how man can and how far can he trust his natural cognitive faculties, what are the human behavior roots including economic and moral behavior? Is man and should he be governed by emotion or by reason? What are the best means to organize society considering the limitations of man on rationality and understanding? And can an enlightened freedom and suitability modest be harnessed so as to undermine religious and ideological dogmatism, while at the same time fostering cooperative values that are in a position to react to the challenges facing the modern world?
Hume is best remembered as the founder of the modern skeptic version. He was able to show that the senses of man often deceive him and that scientific knowledge is the only probable knowledge. He claimed that this was not absolute even the most common things in the world such as the sun rising the following day.
He was able also to show that rational knowledge that remains true in the case where the logic rules are obeyed does not result in ...