The Moral Animus of David Hume (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 295 apprehensions cannot. Gassendi, following Epicurus, holds that every sensation (and indeed every apprehension) is true; error occurs only where there is opinion, that is, where something is affirmed or denied of an apprehension. The apprehension of a round tower or of a tower as being round cannot be mistaken, whether there is a round tower in the field of vision or not; error can occur only when, on the basis of such an apprehension, one believes that the tower one sees is round, that is, holds it true that the tower is round. Puster thus fails to explicate properly Gassendi's notion of the truth of apprehensions. But Puster succeeds in his principal aim, which is to provide valuable evidence of the influence of Gassendi on Locke. FREDERICK S. MICHAEL EMILY MICHAEL Brooklyn College, CUNY Donald T. Siebert. The Moral Animus of David Hume. Newark, Delaware: University of Delaware Press, 199o. Pp. 245- $36-5o. This work seeks to direct our attention to parts of Hume's corpus that have been unjustly neglected: The Natural History of Religion, "A Dialogue," certain of the essays, My Own Life and, above all, The Histor3 of Englancl. And it does so for one most important reason: to allow us to recognize Hume as a moralist, and one with a quite distincfive practical morality. Scholars will find this a useful book, but not one without its flaws. Following a helpful introduction, The Moral Animus of David Hume divides into five chapters: "In Search of the Hero of Feeling"; "Religion and the 'Peace of Society' "; "The Things of the World"; "Moral Scepticism"; and "David Hume's Last Words." The first two chapters rely heavily on The History of England, and they are far and away the most insightful parts of the book. The first, in conjunction with the introduction, argues that the History is a work of moral instruction, an attempt to remake the moral sensibilities of its readers. Hume aims at this effect, Siebert claims, by imaginatively reshaping the past, implicitly projecting an ideal Humean character, a hero of certain sensibilities, one who is "proud and dignified; distinguished by birth, fortune, talents; dominating and self-controlled; superior to his fate, even though that fate involves his own death," and, above all, possessing the quality of greatness of mind (29). Although the characters that Hume contemplates in the History are not entirely satisfactory ones, some embody features of the above sensibilities, and Siebert rehearses many of Hume's own discussions, frequently , as in the case of his discussion of the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, with a discerning eye. One leaves this chapter with a deep sense that an understanding of character is of central importance to Hume. The second chapter of this work, occupying a third of its pages, presents Hume as quarreling with religion because he conceives of religion as an enemy of morality and public order. Here Siebert carefully weaves together an analysis of various discussions of religion found in the History with an analysis of The Natural History ofReligion. Siebert 296 JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY 31:2 APRIL t99 3 argues that Hume sees the sects of Christianity--both Catholic and Protestant--as erecting standards of morality which are antithetical to those of the worldly person that Hume takes to be the paragon of virtue; and it is Puritanism, more so than Catholicism , that is in Hume's understanding the principal miscreant. The hero of Hume's reading of religion is polytheism--although his appraisal of the Druids is far from an endorsement--for polytheistic religions refrain from the dominance over a person's life that Hume finds in Christianity generally; and polytheism, in contrast to Puritanism in particular, does not entail breaking the ties of common morality. Religion is one of the cardinal corrupters of morality in Hume's History, and Siebert nicely portrays Hume's treatment of Cromwell and of the Crusades as providing evidence of the threat that religion poses. Most important in this chapter is Siebert's perceptive and carefully nuanced treatment of Hume's judgment of religious symbols. Whereas prior to the first volume of the H/story in 1754...