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This is a Literature Review study.

October 8, 2025Open Access

Skepticism and the Idea of Body in Hume

Key Points

Hume's argument indicates that our conception of external bodies is deeply flawed, and this affects our understanding of qualities.
The distinction between primary and secondary qualities in Hume's work challenges modern philosophy but does not reject its core ideas.
Hume's skeptical perspective emphasizes inadequacies in cognition rather than dismissing the existence of bodies altogether.
The analysis in this discussion shows the impact of Hume's thoughts on contemporary interpretations of body and qualities in philosophy.

Abstract

abstract: In section 1.4.4 of the Treatise , "Of the modern philosophy," Hume offers a skeptical argument concerning the distinction between primary and secondary qualities. The argument in that section is often understood to aim to undermine the modern philosophy's account of body, according to which bodies lack paradigmatic secondary qualities, by showing that it has "extravagant" skeptical consequences. I argue that Hume does not reject the core commitments of the modern philosophy. His aim in T 1.4.4 is not to undermine any particular account of body but rather to establish the deeply rooted inadequacy of our cognition of external bodies.

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Cite This Study

Bridger Ehli (Wed,) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/68e6a0f4718ef0a556b3402c https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1353/hph.2025.a971099