A Treatise of Human Nature

Hume explains what he believes to be innate tendencies of the human state. These tendencies are therefore possessed by all people. After stating that the book hinges on these tendencies, he then goes on to describe how they will affect the passions and actions of people. Hume is a firm believer that people are only concerned with things that can affect them. If something does not affect a person, he considers it irrelevant. This means that if something does not cause me pleasure or pain, I will not find it a worthwhile study. Along those same lines, Hume discusses that reason cannot overcome passion. This means that reason alone is not enough to initiate action in a person, they must be moved by their passion. I think that this shows that Hume does not believe that morals are objective. He sees that passion can seem objective to its owner, but not to a society. We will use reason to navigate our thoughts, finding passions that direct our actions, but it was not the reason that gave us morals.