CHAPTER 10
1. Outline the development of the "epistemological turn" from Descartes through Locke and Berkeley to Hume.
2. In your own words, reconstruct the basic empirical critique of rationalism.
3. What is the tabula rasa? What is its significance to Locke's empiricism?
4. Explain the philosophical significance of the question "Does a tree falling in the forest make a sound if no one is there to hear it?" Then answer it as Berkeley would.
5. Why is the distinction between impressions and ideas important to Hume's philosophy?
6. Apply the empirical criterion of meaning to an example of your own choosing.
7. How does Hume's bundle theory of the self affect his reasoning regarding personal identity and immortality.
8. How does Hume account for the external world?
9. Sketch Hume's analysis of cause and effect.
10. Summarize and analyze Hume's critique of the argument from design. 11. Construct a Humean analysis of some contemporary moral issue. What are the advantages of Hume's approach? The disadvantages?
12. Why does Hume say "I am ready to throw all my books and papers into the fire, and resolve never more to renounce the pleasures of life for the sake of reasoning and philosophy"?"