Reconciling Emotions and Virtue: Towards a New Humean Virtue Ethics

Are emotions a threat to virtuous behaviour? Although many philosophers have held this position, the Scottish Enlightenment philosopher David Hume (1711-1776) is an exception to this tendency. My project examines how Hume integrates emotions and virtues, namely stable character traits, in his moral philosophy and offers the first detailed and systematic construction of an emotion-based virtue ethics. Such a view has major potential, because it takes seriously that emotions (including negative ones) play an important role in our individual lives and in society. Rather than suppressing emotions, as several other moral theories do, emotions are central for human flourishing.

My project aims (A) to offer the first comprehensive study of Hume's account of negative passions and their moral impact; and (B) to develop a novel emotion-based virtue ethics inspired by my original interpretation of Hume's philosophy. The project is divided into two parts, corresponding to the two aims:

Part-A focuses on the interpretation of Hume's philosophy. The central research question is: How does Hume reconcile negative emotions and virtue within his emotion-based ethical system?

Part-B focuses on the construction of a new system of ethics inspired by my original interpretation of Hume. The central research question is: How can a Humean emotion-based metaethical framework be made consistent with virtue ethical moral theories?