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Philosophy Speaker Series: Manuel Vasquez Villavicencio, A Virtuous Way of Doing Philosophy
By McMaster Philosophy Department
Free Lecture
Overview
McMaster Philosophy Department Speaker Series Welcomes:
Manuel Vasquez Villavicencio
(McMaster University)
A Virtuous Way of Doing Philosophy:
the moderation of curiosity and Hume’s philosophical method in A Treatise of Human Nature
Abstract
In A Treatise of Human Nature, Hume proposes a new philosophical method. This method results from integrating an empirically founded scepticism with an innovative study of the epistemic role of emotions. This combination of scepticism, empiricism, and moral psychology aims to establish a way of doing philosophy based on the regulation of our epistemic emotions. In this paper, I present the operating principles of this virtuous way of doing philosophy. The paper has three parts. I firstly claim that four prescriptions compose Hume’s philosophical methodology. I contend that the moderation of curiosity is the central role among them. Secondly, I claim that that is the case because of the pernicious effects obtaining when this passion becomes excessive and misplaced. Finally, I show the role of curiosity’s moderation in T 1.4.7 to substantiate the claim that the crisis Hume there depicts illustrates his virtuous way of doing philosophy.