An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals Themes

It's no surprise that morality and ethics are a big deal in this book (come on, have you seen the title?). From the start, Hume lets us know that he's not happy with what other philosophers have ha...

Sticking to your principles is good advice, in Hume's opinion. Principles help keep us on track and talk us out of being foolish and acting on impulse. Sure, living in the moment has its appeal, an...

Unlike virtues such as sympathy, justice is a system that has been set up because it's useful. We might think that this is one area in which reason alone is needed. If we're on a jury, for instance...

There are certain qualities we're expected to possess and ways we're supposed to behave. The aim? To promote the wellbeing of society. Some of these things are valued equally in everyone. However,...

Where would we be without rules and order? We might like to imagine a utopia where everyone's equal and works together, but Hume doesn't see this as reality. If it were reality, then rules wouldn't...

There's no way that Hume is going to accept that compassion is a mask for selfishness. Hume recognizes that we have a sense of self-interest and that there's nothing wrong with that—people are to...

Foolishness is an obvious example of vice. It's not useful or agreeable to society, and it can be pretty crummy for the individual, too. It may not seem that way to the person who decides to throw...

Strength and skill are virtues for sure, but we need to think about the particular situation where they're being used—or not. As Hume points out throughout Enquiry, some attributes can be va...