Abstract

Since man is a cultural product, Hume's science of man is a normative moral science of action, Not a descriptive natural science of behavior. Man emerges as a role-playing or rule-following agent, Whose comprehension and self-comprehension requires the use of "verstehen" (sympathy). I exemplify this approach in the explanations of the development of justice and science, And I argue against attributing either determinism or positivism to hume. I next show how this perspective illuminates hume's epistemology, specifically the analysis of cause, time, and self. All explanation becomes historical and evolutionary.