Explanation Of Virtue, Sentiment And Reason, By David Hume

When going about making moral decisions, should one employ reason, sentiment, or both? David Hume, a recognized empiricist and skeptic, would argue we need to utilize both. When describing morality, Hume says that “If any material circumstance be yet unknown or doubtful, we must first employ our inquirer intellectual faculties to assure us of it; and must suspend for a time all moral decision or sentiment” (135). In other words, Hume is saying that before one makes a judgment of morality, one must temporarily set aside emotion, and first gather all facts. This involves “that nice distinctions be made, just conclusions be drawn, distant comparisons formed, complicated relations examined, and general facts fixed and ascertained” (133). Only through the initial application of reason, unclouded by sentiment, can one determine morality.
To fully understand what Hume means by reason, he begins by discussing “relations of ideas” and “matters of fact” Relations of ideas are a priori, meaning they are statements that are independent of experience. Consider the following statements: Octagons have 8 sides; All brothers are male; 3+5=8. These are all “relations of ideas”. Hume argues that this type of statement cannot be what our reason and knowledge are based on because this knowledge has no basis in past or experience and therefore cannot guide us in the future. Hume calls this type of reason “matters of fact”. The reason Hume identifies is a posteriori, meaning that it can be known only after the fact. One can only judge morality after they have first gathered all the evidence and information about the