He has been a prime mover in 'the 'new Hume' debate' - the controversy over whether Hume is a skeptical realist, that is, whether he was both a realist, committed to a world independent of our perceptions, and a skeptic, believing there is precious little our limited understandings can grasp of its nature.

Wright's solution is to take a 'middle course,' one that provides a unified reading of the Treatise while showing how it differs from other interpretations.īut Wright is also a man with a mission, and that mission determines the 'middle course' he charts through the Treatise. Selby-Bigge said, 'all philosophies may be found in it, or none at all,' while the latter tack invites 'oversimplifying' Hume's arguments. The former runs the risk of making it appear that the Treatise is so unclear that, as Hume's late nineteenth-century editor L. Given that there are many rival interpretations of it, do you explain and compare all of them, or do you provide only one reading? Wright thinks both options are unacceptable. Wright thinks the Treatise poses a special problem for fledgling readers. He also follows authors like Norman Kemp Smith and Annette Baier in attempting to provide a unified reading of the Treatise as a whole. He subdivides each chapter into manageable chunks and provides easy to follow subheadings ('Hume's Conception of Philosophy and Its Methods,' 'Moral Sense in Hutcheson's Philosophy') designed to cue students to the topic currently under discussion. Wright is aware of his charge, and his book has several attractive features that should make it a suitable introduction to the Treatise. Volumes in this series assume 'no philosophical background knowledge' and should 'be suited to introductory university-level courses.' Each book is supposed to 'guide readers through the main arguments' of the philosophical text in question, while 'dealing with issues of interpretation.' They are also supposed to provide some insight into the relevant philosophical context within which the book was written as well as an appreciation of its reception. This book is a recent addition to Cambridge's 'Introductions to Key Philosophical Texts' series, which offers 'introductory textbooks' on philosophical classics.

A treatise of human nature