Inquiry into the Relation of Cause and Effect

by Brown, Thomas

• ISBN13: 9781108040792
• ISBN10: 1108040799
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-03-31
• Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr

Summary

Scottish philosopher Thomas Brown (1778-1820) held the chair of moral philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. He was distinguished for his work in the philosophy of mind and causation, and was a founder member of the Edinburgh Review. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, controversy arose over John Leslie being appointed to the chair of mathematics at the university. City ministers opposed him because he defended Hume's view of causation, which was seen as being incompatible with the existence of God. In 1805 Brown wrote a pamphlet, Observations on the Nature and Tendency of the Doctrine of Mr. Hume Concerning the Relation of Cause and Effect, which among other things aimed to show that Hume's theory was compatible with belief in God. This book, first published in 1818, is the third edition of that original pamphlet, which grew to become a thorough examination of the philosophy of causation.

Table of Contents

Preface to the third edition

Introduction

On the real import of the relation of cause and effect

On the sources of illusion with respect to the relation

On the circumstances in which the belief of the relation arises

On Mr Hume's theory of our belief in the relation

Notes

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