EPISODE · Mar 23, 2026 · 2H 37M
On Hume and the Limits of Reason | Complete Philosophy For Sleep
from sleepyphilosophyradio · host slphilosophy
Vote on what comes next: https://www.slphilosophyradio.com/voteReason is not the master. It never was. Fall asleep to the complete philosophy of David Hume.David Hume followed the evidence of the senses wherever it led, even when it overturned the deepest assumptions of Western thought. What he found shook the foundations of philosophy so thoroughly that Kant said Hume woke him from his dogmatic slumber.This three-hour episode traces Hume’s life and ideas from Enlightenment Edinburgh through the ambitious Treatise he wrote as a young man in France. We explore his empiricist theory of knowledge, his denial of the self, his revolutionary analysis of causation, the is-ought problem, his moral philosophy of sentiment and sympathy, his critique of miracles and natural religion, and the problem of induction that still haunts philosophy and science today. Hume emerges not as a destroyer of knowledge but as one of the most honest and courageous thinkers in the Western tradition.Please listen only in safe, restful contexts.(0:00:00) The Young Philosopher and the City of Enlightenment(0:15:25) All Knowledge Begins with Experience(0:31:17) The Bundle and the Void, Hume’s Denial of the Self(0:47:12) Causation, The Habit That Runs the World(1:03:07) The Is-Ought Problem(1:18:17) Sentiment and Sympathy, Hume’s Moral Philosophy(1:34:33) Miracles, Religion, and the Limits of Faith(1:50:37) The Problem of Induction(2:04:39) Reason Is the Slave of the Passions(2:20:20) The Shadow That Reaches to UsSuggested Reading:An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (Hackett Classics): https://amzn.to/4cGkVUZA Treatise of Human Nature (Oxford): https://amzn.to/4um8V1eDialogues Concerning Natural Religion (Oxford World’s Classics): https://amzn.to/4rm3M6GA.J. Ayer, Hume: A Very Short Introduction: https://amzn.to/4bdMYsnBarry Stroud, Hume: https://amzn.to/4be4BZeJames A. Harris, Hume: An Intellectual Biography: https://amzn.to/46OCONtErnest Campbell Mossner, The Life of David Hume: https://amzn.to/4ugHBkXAll research and writing is done personally. Subscribe to Sleepy Philosophy Radio for more longform philosophy.
What this episode covers
Vote on what comes next: https://www.slphilosophyradio.com/voteReason is not the master. It never was. Fall asleep to the complete philosophy of David Hume.David Hume followed the evidence of the senses wherever it led, even when it overturned the deepest assumptions of Western thought. What he found shook the foundations of philosophy so thoroughly that Kant said Hume woke him from his dogmatic slumber.This three-hour episode traces Hume’s life and ideas from Enlightenment Edinburgh through the ambitious Treatise he wrote as a young man in France. We explore his empiricist theory of knowledge, his denial of the self, his revolutionary analysis of causation, the is-ought problem, his moral philosophy of sentiment and sympathy, his critique of miracles and natural religion, and the problem of induction that still haunts philosophy and science today. Hume emerges not as a destroyer of knowledge but as one of the most honest and courageous thinkers in the Western tradition.Please listen only in safe, restful contexts.(0:00:00) The Young Philosopher and the City of Enlightenment(0:15:25) All Knowledge Begins with Experience(0:31:17) The Bundle and the Void, Hume’s Denial of the Self(0:47:12) Causation, The Habit That Runs the World(1:03:07) The Is-Ought Problem(1:18:17) Sentiment and Sympathy, Hume’s Moral Philosophy(1:34:33) Miracles, Religion, and the Limits of Faith(1:50:37) The Problem of Induction(2:04:39) Reason Is the Slave of the Passions(2:20:20) The Shadow That Reaches to UsSuggested Reading:An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (Hackett Classics): https://amzn.to/4cGkVUZA Treatise of Human Nature (Oxford): https://amzn.to/4um8V1eDialogues Concerning Natural Religion (Oxford World’s Classics): https://amzn.to/4rm3M6GA.J. Ayer, Hume: A Very Short Introduction: https://amzn.to/4bdMYsnBarry Stroud, Hume: https://amzn.to/4be4BZeJames A. Harris, Hume: An Intellectual Biography: https://amzn.to/46OCONtErnest Campbell Mossner, The Life of David Hume: https://amzn.to/4ugHBkXAll research and writing is done personally. Subscribe to Sleepy Philosophy Radio for more longform philosophy.
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On Hume and the Limits of Reason | Complete Philosophy For Sleep
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