"Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any othe office than to serve and obey them."
When Hume makes this claim he's speaking to the nature of reason and what he calls volition or will. Hume sees reason as a strictly analytical device (he gives the example of mathematics for example). Reason is great at dissecting situations but it is still directionless and is more a means of attaining an end- an end that is set by the passions as Hume sees it- than it is a comprehensive ethical tool. This is nearly directly opposed to virtue ethics which sees reason, or at least knowledge, as a way to cultivate an ethical mindset and carry out correct actions. I think Hume gives far to narrow a definition of reason. Ethics is not performed in a vaccuum in which decisions are guided by the passions. There is usually a few very clear choices in ethical dilemmas (the di prefix here hints at this) and reason can be used to decide the best path to take given the desired outcome. This last part about "desired outcome" is what Hume has a problem with, since the "desired outcome" would have to be dictated by the passions. But virtue ethics uses reason to not only inform you of what you should be desiring but also what is reasonably desirable. It doesn't seem absurd to me to say that passions can set unreasonable desires.
3 comments:
Why would anyone deem reason's only proper function as a slave of the passions? I agree with you that passions sometimes call for unreasonable desires. That's what makes me think back to something about Hume that Professor McCrickerd told us: he was only in his early 20s when he wrote this. Maybe he was too immature...However that doesn't explain the fact that many philosophers today regard this book as very credible and accurate.
Perhaps what we need to examine in this case is our definition of passion, and if it is the same as what Hume refers to in his writing.
I don't understand what "the passions" means when Hume talks about it? If anybody could explain it I would appreciate it.
You probably already figured this out, but Hume says that reason IS the thing that guides the decision. Based on what we heard in class, Hume is just saying that passion is what made the need for a decision pop up in the first place.
Did you mean to say it doesn't seem absurd to you that passions can set reasonable desires? In which case I agree--just because a desire arises doesn't automatically mean the desire is completely unreasonable--sometimes desires can be healthy, like the desire it exercise.
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