180043 LPS David Hume, An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding (2024W)

David Hume (1711-1776), one of the most important philosophers of modern and 18th century philosophy, a central figure of the Scottish Enlightenment and, alongside John Locke and George Berkeley, a protagonist of British Empiricism, offers an excellent introduction to historically and systematically central philosophical questions in the field of epistemology, philosophy of mind, anthropology and, last but not least, the theory of action with his /Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding/. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding) offers an excellent introduction to historically and systematically central philosophical questions in the fields of epistemology, philosophy of mind, anthropology, theory of action and, last but not least, philosophy of religion. Hume’s questions and his critical lines of argumentation and positions are not only historically controversial, but also provide the philosophy of the 20th and 21st centuries with material for reflection, puzzlement and debate.

Our reading seminar focuses on the philosophical examination of ENQUIRY. In order to see how an author's philosophical thinking develops and in which different textual forms it can express itself, we will also read excerpts from Hume’s first work, A Treatise of Human Nature (3 volumes, published 1739-1740) and excerpts from the posthumously published Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (published 1779).

In addition to questions of content, in this reading seminar we also want to pay special attention to the question of what makes a philosophical text a philosophical text in the first place and what it means to read a philosophical text. We will not only reflect on this theoretically and methodologically and explain various possibilities of the text and reading, but the joint reading on site and corresponding reading tasks in preparation for the respective units will allow us to directly experience and practise reading a philosophical text.