1. David Hume

2. Hume on Himself “My principles … would produce almost a total alteration in philosophy: and you know, revolutions of this kind are not easily bought.”

3. Hume’s Grave “Both ancient and modern philosophers have been guilty of optimistic and exaggerated claims for the power of reason.”

4. Dogmatic Rationalism “Our beliefs about ultimate truth are not based on reason or the understanding, but on feeling, imagination and custom.”

5. The Problem with Abstraction The word “cat” as an abstraction allows us to talk about cats as if they were one thing when actually they are all different.”

6. Edinburgh, Scotland What Hume wants is synthetic knowledge, that is, knowledge that corresponds with experience.

7. The Problem of Knowledge “So “causality” proved to have the same status as “material substance” and “God.” This embarrassment has far-reaching consequences.”

8. Summary “Hume believed he had shown that human life was incompatible with rationality and that human endeavors always had to be extrarational, hence irrational.”

9. Summary Russell: “Hume represents, in a certain sense, a dead end; in his direction, it is impossible to go further. To refute him has been ever since a favorite pastime.”