Q&A: My teacher Rabbi David Hume, of blessed memory
My teacher Rabbi David Hume, of blessed memory
Question
Hello Rabbi,
You present David Hume in your books, in various places, as an extreme skeptic who does not accept the validity of everyday facts and so on, whereas there may be an interpretation that draws entirely different conclusions from the problem of causality, induction, and so forth. For example, in Anthony Gottlieb’s book The Dream of Reason (in the chapter on Hume), I think (maybe he’s mistaken) that the interpretation is extremely the opposite. In any case, the presentation there is not that these problems are the whole story in Hume’s philosophy.
Answer
Where did I write that he does not accept the validity of everyday facts? Exactly the opposite. He accepts only those. And where did I write that this is the whole story?