Guide Mentor

Character Role Analysis

Cicero

Because Hume's none too happy with existing theories, we might imagine that he's a lone wolf in this Enquiry. He mentions Lord Shaftesbury near the beginning, noting that this guy had at least noticed the confusion Hume's talking about. Unfortunately, Hume sees him as not being "entirely free from the same confusion" (I.4). Bummer. But nevermind, because there are some historical figures whom Hume sees as knowing the score. His main go-to guy is the ancient Roman philosopher and political theorist Cicero. This "eloquent moralist" (AIV.11) refused to be confined by narrow ideas about what makes something a virtue and didn't see the need to classify different species. Cicero's view was that justice, courage, modesty, friendship, and cautiousness are all virtues and that's what counts. Yep, if Cicero were on Twitter, Hume would definitely be a follower.