Our reading will be focused on:

A treatise of human nature, Book I, Part 1, § 1-7 (seminar 1-7)

How is David Hume located in the history of philosophy?

What does it mean for Hume, “A Science of Man”? What is the humanity of man, according to Hume?

Wherein lies the importance of Hume’s distinction between common life and scientific reasoning?

How Hume’s questioning regarding the fundamental categories of thinking (identity, substance, ego, predicate, causality etc.) has transformed the shape of modern science?

On the other hand, how is Hume’s philosophy burdened with previous thinking, especially with Cartesian metaphysics of consciousness? How so that his own thinking is enclosed within the frame of this metaphysics? What could it mean to re-open up this enclosing?

A treatise of human nature, Book I, Part 4, § 6 (seminar 8-10)

What is the “ego”? What makes up an identity of ego? And is there such an entity like the “I”, or is it a pure fiction? How Hume’s solution contrasts with other solutions (Descartes’ ego-substance, Kant’s transcendental apperception, Husserl’s pure or transcendental ego-pole).

A treatise of human nature, Book III, Part 1, § 1-2 (seminar 11-12)

Hume’s work makes also a great contribution for Ethics:

What constitutes our ability to distinguish between “good” and “evil”? How to understand Hume’s thesis that reason is impotent in our pursuit within the frame of ethics? What set of presuppositions is in action in Hume’s reasoning regarding this issue?