His rejection of ethical rationalism is at least two-fold. Moral rationalists tend to say, first, that ... From this many draw the sweeping conclusion that for Hume moral evaluations are not beliefs or opinions of any kind, but lack all cognitive content. read more
Hume's philosophy is quite complicated, so I hope to not do much disservice to his great mind. But Hume's ethics, and much of his philosophy, stemmed from the idea that man is not motivated by reason, but uses reason as a tool. Man possesses an intrinsic trait - "sympathy.". read more
Gauthier, David, 1979, “David Hume, Contractarian,” The Philosophical Review, 88: 3–38. Gill, Michael, 2006, The British Moralists on Human Nature and the Birth of Secular Ethics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Gill, Michael, 2000, “Hume's Progressive View of Human Nature,” Hume Studies, 26 (1): 87–108. read more
It does not follow that all actions are of equal value. On Hume's view, the judgments and recommendations of traditional morality arise not from reason, but from a moral sense. read more