Treatise to Human Nature Continued

Hume makes it a point to note many times that "reason alone can never be a motive to any action of the will: and secondly, that it can never oppose passion in the direction of the will." He is trying to explain that his point of view hinges on this relationship between reason and passion. Hume proposes that all actions made by people are dependent upon their passions. He explains that reason can try to persuade the passions but can neither cause an action nor prevent passion from creating an action. There are things known as calm passions that can be mistaken for reason. In fact, Hume states on page 268 "when any of these passions are calm, and cause no disorder in the soul, they are very readily taken for the determinations of reason." Hume says that such passions are confused for reasons because they coincide with what should be done in a situation. The passions of the person fit with the ideas of what is appropriate. Hume discusses violent emotions on page 268. Here he states that during these times of violent passion a person will often do something independent of the pleasures of the person. I think he is trying to point out times when a person does something in an emotional state that later they regret.

People in the 21st century that support the beliefs of Hume could cite specific examples to prove their belief. One example would be when a couple is fighting. Often, there are things said in an argument that can ruin a relationship that would not have been said in an unemotional state. This exemplifies Hume's violent passion. I think an example of Hume's calm passion would be donating money to another person in need. This seems like reason because the other person is in need but Hume would describe it as a passion. I think another good example of a violent passion would be homocide. These people wind up hurting themself by going to jail, but their passion to injur someone who hurt them won out.

page 266
There is a passage at the bottom of the page that says "or more than five foot high." I don't know if this is just some kind of saying from the time period or if it is over my head (play on words).

page 273
A passage at the bottom of the page goes against all that we have learned in ethics class so far. Hume states that an argument does not have to be eloquent or accurate but just argued with passion in order to cause an end. This means that people do not need evidence to win an argument.