Reading Hume's Dialogues by William Lad Sessions

Reading Hume's Dialogues by William Lad Sessions

"According to Sessions (Washington and Lee Univ), the purpose of this book is to provide a full-scale commentary on the Dialogues, a task that has not been undertaken before. In doing so, Sessions provides an internal interpretation... a close reading of [the] text on its own terms. Sessions argues that, when taken as a whole, the work has far fewer contradictions and inconsistencies than it would when isolated arguments are examined. For example, when one distinguishes natural religious thinking (theology) from natural religious practice (piety), one finds that Hume is more concerned with the latter, which in turn helps explain Philo's apparent backsliding in part 12 of the Dialogues. Sessions also largely succeeds in exploding many unwarranted assumptions about this text, such as the idea that Hume's personal views are to be found in it. Sessions's approach is refreshing in this age of isolated textual analysis, and this book will appeal to all who are interested in Hume and theology. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty."

William Lad Sessions is Ballengee 250th Anniversary Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Washington and Lee University. He is author of The Concept of Faith.