Hume

[poliphilo]

I don't possess a logical mind.

I know because I was trying to read Hume last night and I was slip-sliding all over the place like it was my first outing on the ice.

Ailz says Hume is easy.

Ailz has a logical mind.

The two essays we're studying for her course are the ones on The Immortality of the Soul and Suicide. As far as I can make out Hume is saying, in both of them, that human beings suffer from an inflated idea of their own importance. Also he gets in some sly digs at the clergy.

I enjoyed the sly digs.

Neither essay was published in Hume's lifetime. They were considered too inflammatory. Too dangerous to their author. When they finally saw the light of day (at the end of the 18th century) the editor surrounded them with dark matter of his own "intended as an antidote to the poison contained in these performances".

A little clear thinking and Authority throws a hissy fit.

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's a conversation I'd have enjoyed eavesdropping...

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

I rather imagine it would have gone something like this...

"We are insignificant!"
"Yes!"
DOOM, GLOOM
"The sky is falling!"
DOOM, GLOOM
"We are insignificant!"
"Yes!"
DOOM, GLOOM

Repeat ad nauseum

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

But I expect it would have been convivial. I can imagine them emptying quite a few bottles of claret or port between them.

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

Oh absolutely!