Human understanding and affectivity - John Locke's and David Hume's Positions

Abstract

The author elaborates on David Hume’s evolution in the perception of human understanding differing in effect from that represented earlier by John Locke. Historically speaking, it was the 1st Earl of Shaftesbury who came up with the new approach stressing the role of human affectivity. His theory influenced Hume via Francis Hutcheson’s writings. The author also draws a comparison between Locke’s and Hume’s positions on relations between the rational and affective aspects of experience and the functioning of human mind. Hume’s anti-metaphysical and more radical empirical position highlights the diverse relations between the two aspects.