Reading Hume's Dialogues by William Lad Sessions
"... establishes the literary and philosophical greatness of the Dialogues in ways that even its warmest admirers have been unable to do before." —Terence Penelhum In this lively reading of David Hume’s Dialogues concerning Natural Religion, William Lad Sessions reveals a complex internal hermeneutic that gives new form, structure, and meaning to the work. Linking situations, character, style, and action to the philosophical concepts presented, Sessions finds meaning contained in the work itself and calls attention to the internal connections between plot, character, rhetoric, and philosophy. The result avoids the main preoccupation of previous commentaries, namely, the attempt to establish which of the main characters speaks for Hume. Concentrating on previously unexplored questions of piety and theology, Sessions asks important questions in the philosophy of religion today—what is the nature of true religion, what is the relationship between theology and piety, and how should we actively engage with God?"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."
-- W. F. Desmond * Black Hawk College, 2003apr CHOICE *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.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780253215345 |
| ISBN 10 | 025321534X |
| Title | Reading Hume's Dialogues |
| Author | William Lad Sessions |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Indiana University Press |
| Year published | 2002-09-13 |
| Number of pages | 296 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |