Stability and Justification in Hume's Treatise

The distinguished philosopher Louis Loeb examines the epistemological framework of Scottish philosopher David Hume as employed in his celebrated work A Treatise of Human Nature. Loeb''s project is to advance an integrated interpretation of Hume''s accounts of belief and justification. His thesis is that Hume in his Treatise has a stability-based theory of justification which posits that his belief is justified if it is the result of a belief producing mechanism that engenders stable beliefs. But Loeb argues that the striking (if paradoxical) corollary to this theory is that no belief generating mechanism is fully stable - or fully justified - for a fully reflective person. This carefully argued and original interpretation of Hume makes sense of seemingly contradictory ideas and will provoke serious discussion among Hume scholars.