by Zack Beauchamp
Elizabeth Radcliffe gives a primer on David Hume's views on human motivation and ethics:
While Hume was not the first philosopher to suggest that ends of actions cannot come from reason (Aristotle, for instance, attributed them to a wish), his scientific precision and rigour have made his arguments the touchstone for subsequent debates on this topic…Anti-Humeans, often descended from Immanuel Kant, still argue that reason can and ought to have authority over our desires. Some maintain, despite Hume’s arguments, that we can use reason to decide what ends to adopt, by examining our desires and determining which are consistent with the demands of rationality. Contemporary Humeans, in response, spend a great deal of effort attempting to develop a theory true to Hume’s tenets, but one that allows (contrary to Hume) that our actions can be reasonable or unreasonable.
The Dish 