Abstract

“Some Vexations about Character in Hume’s Treatise” (chapter 11), highlights Hume’s key observations about character and the problems they create, given other claims in the _Treatise_. I address three questions: whether Hume can sensibly talk about enduring traits that constitute character, given his depiction of the mind as constantly in flux; whether character is “objective” or a creation of spectators; and whether Hume’s treatment of virtue and vice is only descriptive of how we derive our moral categories, or also contains prescriptions. First, I argue that since Hume distinguishes between the feeling of a motive and its causal efficacy, he can observe that, while feelings may be in constant flux, character is determined by which has the force to produce action consistently. Second, the contingency of moral categories on human nature is not the same as creation of the features that fall under those categories. Third, Hume both describes our process of moral discrimination and offers guidance about making judgments of virtue and vice. He is not defending a view of moral character but employing the norms that arise from our own sentiments, language, and human practices.