Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Abbreviations for Rawls’s texts
- Introduction
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- 85 Happiness
- 86 Harsanyi, John C.
- 87 Hart, H. L. A.
- 88 Health and health care
- 89 Hedonism
- 90 Hegel, G. W. F.
- 91 Higher-order interests
- 92 Hobbes, Thomas
- 93 Human rights
- 94 Hume, David
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- R
- S
- T
- U
- W
- Bibliography
- Index
94 - Hume, David
from H
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2015
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Abbreviations for Rawls’s texts
- Introduction
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- 85 Happiness
- 86 Harsanyi, John C.
- 87 Hart, H. L. A.
- 88 Health and health care
- 89 Hedonism
- 90 Hegel, G. W. F.
- 91 Higher-order interests
- 92 Hobbes, Thomas
- 93 Human rights
- 94 Hume, David
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- R
- S
- T
- U
- W
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
David Hume (1711–1776) was a Scottish philosopher, historian, and economist. Although Rawls treats Hume primarily as an early utilitarian and critic of contractarianism, he incorporates certain elements of Hume’s theory of justice into his own. In addition to references in A Theory of Justice and other works, Rawls devotes ive chapters to Hume in his Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy and two lectures in his Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy.
Hume’s understanding of justice is more narrowly focused than Rawls’s, since it is largely concerned with “the regulation of economic production and competition between members of civil society, as they pursue their economic interests” (LHPP 178–179). He treats justice as an “artiicial virtue” since the principles of justice are conventionally established to serve the general interest of society. Rawls identiies four essential features in this account. First, the focus is on “a system of general institutional rules” as opposed to individual transactions (LHPP 181). Second, the rules are publicly recognized. Third, the rules are “inlexibly followed,” even if departures on individual occasions would appear more beneficial. (This is compatible with “certain kinds of exceptions (e.g. to prevent imminent disaster)” (LHPP 181–182).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Rawls Lexicon , pp. 354 - 358Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014