University of Kansas, Fall 2003
Philosophy 672: History of Ethics
Ben Eggleston—eggleston@ku.edu

Test—Hume

Please answer 100 points’ worth of the following questions during this class period. Don’t answer every question; if you do, I’ll ignore your answer to the last 10-point one. In answering these questions don’t use books, notes, or other people.

1. (20 points:) Why, according to Hume, is reason incapable of motivating? (In answering this question, identify the two kinds of reasoning Hume countenances and indicate what role, short of actual motivation, Hume allows that reasoning of these two kinds can play in deliberation that leads to action.)
2. (10 points:) What explanation does Hume give of the prevalence of the belief that reason is capable of opposing the passions?
3. (20 points:) How does Hume’s claim that reason cannot determine how we act provide support for his claim that morality is not based on reason?
4. (10 points:) What are two of Hume’s three “farther reflections concerning justice and injustice” (3.2.6)? What conclusion are all three of these “farther reflections” intended, by Hume, to prove?
5. (10 points:) What is Hume’s explanation for the fact that chastity and modesty are valued in regard to women more than in regard to men?
6. (20 points:) How, according to Hume, does sympathy enable certain character traits to be virtues and vices?
7. (20 points:) One of Hume’s claims is that sympathy enables certain character traits to be virtues and vices. How does Hume’s invocation of the idea of a “steady and general poin[t] of view” enable him to reply to two objections that might be made to this claim?