An Examination of David Hume’s Use of “Propositon” and “Deduction” in Hume’s Law: An Objection to the Standart Interpretation of the “Is-Ought” Problem

Yıl 2015, , 133 - 150, 30.04.2015

Emre Erdenk

https://doi.org/10.20981/kuufefd.31170

Öz

Contemporary scholars frequently interpreted Hume’s Law as a logical or semantic thesis. Accordingly, no argument can have a conclusion with moral content without having at least one premise containing a moral term. This interpretation depends on the misconception of Hume’s use of the terms “proposition” and “deduction”. I argue that “proposition” and “deduction” in the relevant context should not be interpreted anachronistically. The correct interpretation of these terms would be that; (i) “proposition” has no special (logical) meaning, and (ii) “deduction” means very broadly all types of multi-step inferences. In this case, Hume’s Law offers a wider claim than the logical and semantic thesis suggest. In this paper, I am going to argue for this correct interpretation of Hume’s use of the terms “proposition” and “deduction”. If we appeal to this correct interpretation, we can see that Hume’s thesis has no specifically a logical or semantic point. Hume wants to argue instead that our moral judgments have no underpinning psychological relations of ideas or matters of facts. According to this interpretation, it can be seen that the crucial term of the “is-ought” passage is Hume’s “relations”.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Metaethics; Fact-Value Distinction; Morality; Sentimentalism; Emotivism; Moral Judgments; Normativity

Kaynakça

• ARNAULD, A; NICOLE, P (1996) Logic or the Art of Thinking, New York: Cambridge University Press. (Original work published 1662)
• ATKINSON, R. F (1969) “Hume on ‘Is’ and ‘Ought’: A Reply to Mr MacIntyre”, The Is-Ought Question, pp. 51-58, London: Macmillian.
• BAIER, A. C (2010) “Hume’s Own ‘Ought’ Conclusions”, Hume on Is and Ought, pp. 49-64, Great Britain: Palgrave Macmillan.
• BERKELEY, G (1901) The Principles of Human Knowledge, A. C., Fraser (Ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Original work published 1710)
• BLACK, M (1969) “The Gap between ‘Is’ and ‘Should’”, The Is-Ought Question, pp. 99-113, London: Macmillian.
• CAPALDI, N (1992) Hume’s Place in Moral Philosophy, New York: Peter Land Publishing Inc.
• COHON, R (2008) Hume’s Morality: Feeling and Fabrication, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• ECHELBARGER, C (1987-88) “Hume on Deduction”, Philosophy Research Archives, 13/1987-88: 351-365.
• ERDENK, E. A (2013) “Descartes’ Account of Feeling of Pain in Animals”, FLSF, 15/2013: 201-210.
• ERDENK, E. A (2014) Hume’s Law as a Pyschological Thesis: An Interpretation of and Solution to the “Is-Ought” Problem, Ankara, Turkey: M.E.T.U. (Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation)
• GASSENDI, P (1981) Pierre Gassandi’s Institutio Logica, J., Howard (Ed.), Assen, ND: Van Gorcum Publ. (Original work published 1658)
• A Gentleman (2010) “A Letter from a Gentleman in Dunedin to a Lady in the Country”, Hume on Is and Ought, pp. 76-91, Great Britain: Palgrave Macmillan.
• HARE, R. M (1954-5) “Universalisability”, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 55/1954-5: 295-312.
• HEATHCOTE, A (2010) “Hume’s Master Argument”, Hume on Is and Ought, pp. 92-117, Great Britain: Palgrave Macmillan.
• HUDSON, W. D (1969) The Is-Ought Question, London: Macmillian.
• HUME, D (1978) A Treatise of Human Nature, Selby-Bigge, L. A. & Nidditch, P. H. (Eds.), Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Original work published 1739)
• HUME, D (1999) An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Beauchamp, T. L. (Ed.), New York: Oxford University Press. (Original work published 1756)
• KAIL, P. J. E (2007) Projection and Realism in Hume’s Philosophy, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• LEWIS, D (1986) On the Plurality of Worlds, Oxford: Blackwell Pub.
• LOCKE, J (1975) An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, P. H., Nidditch (Ed.), Oxford: Clarendon Press. (Original work published 1689)
• MACINTYRE, A. C (1969) “Hume on ‘Is’ and ‘Ought’”, The Is-Ought Question, pp. 35-50, London: Macmillian.
• McGRATH, M (2012, Summer) “Propositions”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Retrieved June 12, 2014, http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2012/entries/propositions
• MUSGRAVE, A (2010) “Heathcote’s Hume”, Hume on Is and Ought, pp. 118-125, Great Britain: Palgrave Macmillan.
• OWEN, D (1999) Hume’s Reason, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• PIGDEN, R. C (2010) Hume on Is and Ought, Great Britain: Palgrave Macmillan.
• PUTNAM, H (2004) The Collapse of the Fact/Value Dichotomy: And Other Essays, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
• ROBINSON, W. L (2010) “Much Obliged”, Hume on Is and Ought, pp. 65-75, Great Britain: Palgrave Macmillan.
• SCHURZ, G (1997) The Is-Ought Problem, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
• SCHURZ, G (2010) “Comments on ‘Hume’s Master Argument”, Hume on Is and Ought, pp. 143-146, Great Britain: Palgrave Macmillan.
• SNARE, F (1992) The Nature of Moral Thinking, London: Routledge.
• STRAWSON, P. F (1950) “On Referring”, Mind, 59(235)/1950: 320-344.
• STURGEON, N (1986) “What Difference Does It Make Whether Moral Realism Is True?”, The Southern Journal of Philosophy, 24(Supplementary)/1986: 115-141.
• THOMPSON, J. J (1989) “The No Reason Thesis”, Social Philosophy & Policy, 7/1989: 1-21.
• WATTS, I (1996) Logic, or the Right Use of Reason, Morgan, PA: Soli Deo Gloria. (Original work published 1724)