A COMPLEAT PHILOSOPHICAL OUTLOOK OF DAVID HUME

ABSTRACT: A little more than three hundred years have elapsed since David Hume‟s birth but the highlyskilled philosophical system developed by him lives on as a genuine and unique torch of guidance. The ScotttishPhilosopher, Historian and Economist was more concerned about the society which was reveling in ignorance.When traditional values filled with religious sentiments begin to dominate the very functioning of the society,there is always an alarming danger. Unfortunately for the fear of defamation, insecurity on personal and sociallevels, generally no one dares to take on the artificially created active adverse forces. The scientific outlook isdismissed only because it does not subscribe to the traditional values and is viewed as a handiwork designed togo against the image of God, nurtured from centuries. However, when the results of the much publicisedprinciples from the texts fail to generate the anticipated results, even a common man begins to suspect thevalidity claimed. This would eventually give birth to Scepticism, Agnosticism and Atheism too. David Humestood for empiricism throughout his life firmly and asserted the metaphysical speculations and claims therefromas wrongly concluded. Unless we study properly human personality scientifically with the assistance of humanPsychology and pure Sciences, according to Hume, we may not be able to understand it properly. Most of thephilosophers who eagerly and hurriedly drew a connection between philosophy and human reasoning arrived atno concluding remarks convincingly. Human nature which has varied shades, can be grasped only by adoptingthe scientific principles than testing it merely in the realm of metaphysics. Therefore, Hume felt there is toomuch of reliance on the human speculative power and this would lead us to yet another domain filled withimagination and confusion. There are certain unintelligible terms in vogue even today which have taken acomplete charge of the subject by either discarding or belittling the working of the scientific approach andprinciples. This paper attempts to bring forth select aspects of Hume‟s contention and concern for humanity, sothat the reality would surface without disqualifying the metaphysical points in toto.

KEYWORDS: Empiricism, Scepticism, Metaphysical claims, Human Reasoning.