1. Liberal Education in Hume’s History of England.
- Author
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Bretton, Philip
- Subjects
- *
ENLIGHTENMENT , *LIBERALISM , *POLITICAL doctrines , *HUMANISTIC education , *HUMANITIES - Abstract
Hume is an advocate of enlightenment liberalism. As I show here, he uses liberal education to advance the aims of the Enlightenment. The education is in two parts. The first consists of arguments for liberal principles such as religious toleration and enlightened interest. The second culminates in an enlightened preference for liberalism over other forms of government. I reach these conclusions on the basis of my study of the *History of England.* A peculiarity of this text is its favorable presentation of both liberalism and virtue. Because liberalism builds on the inclination to comfortable self-preservation, the reason for Hume’s interest in virtue is not self-evident. I refer this peculiarity not to any design for the reintroduction of virtue but rather to Hume’s project for enlightenment and liberal education. By learning to admire the beauty of virtue, even when it appears under tyranny, readers become better qualified to choose liberalism. Different virtues and vices tend to appear under different regimes, and choice presupposes knowledge of the alternatives. Hume’s liberal education therefore serves two functions. It teaches principles for the preservation of freedom, and it creates grounds for choosing with intelligence a free life in a modern commercial republic. In sum, making use of the lively materials of history, Hume’s liberal education brings to a wide audience the lessons of enlightenment. This paper is useful for two reasons. First, it offers an alternative to the tendency to overstate Hume’s emphasis of custom (Livingston 1984, Whelan 1985, Conniff 1976). It is true that the birth of freedom is in part accidental, but, on the other hand, Hume gives an account as to why freedom is good. Secondly, the paper contributes to the study of liberalism and virtue (Berkowitz 1999, Galston 1988, Macedo 1990) by showing that a revival of virtue is not necessary for the preservation of freedom. What is needed according to Hume is a broader understanding of how freedom is preserved and why it is good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2004