O PAPEL DA RAZÃO E DAS PAIXÕES NA CONSTITUIÇÃO DA MORALIDADE SEGUNDO DAVID HUME

Abstract

Throughout the history of philosophy, many philosophers have given reason a privileged role in moral matters, considering it to be the determining factor or even the foundation of an individual's morality. However, some thinkers have questioned this rationalist perspective. One of them, perhaps the most important, was David Hume, for whom reason played a merely secondary and non-determining role in the constitution of morality, which would derive from the passions that animate the lives of individuals. Hume thus opens up a new theoretical perspective for thinking about a different role for reason in moral questions and, even more so, for understanding the decisive importance of sensory experiences (passions, emotions, affections) in determining the subject's moral behaviour. Therefore, the aim of this study is to analyse, in the light of the Scottish philosopher David Hume, the role of reason in issues related to morality and, in turn, to highlight the passions as the decisive driving force behind human actions. In order to achieve this aim, we used a qualitative, bibliographical method to prepare this work.