O PAPEL DAS PAIXÕES NA CONSTITUIÇÃO DA MORAL SEGUNDO DAVID HUME

Abstract

This work aims to analyze, based on David Hume's thinking, the role and importance of passions in determining an individual's moral conduct. Hume is one of the precursors of British empiricism, in addition to being considered responsible for renewing moral philosophy by opposing the logocentrism of tradition and rescuing the role of passions as a source of constitution of morality. Thus, the present work was prepared from the study and exposition of the fundamental ideas contained in his works Investigation into human understanding, Treatise on human nature, Summary of a treatise on human nature and An investigation into the principles of morals. The aim was, initially, to make a brief presentation of Humean empiricism through the treatment of the notion of causality, the relationship between impressions and ideas and how these constitute the subject's passions. Likewise, the role of necessity was shown and how, through will, this instance determines freedom. This approach perspective offers itself as a way of accessing the understanding of the nature of passions, given that they determine the moral distinctions drawn up by the individual, thus invalidating the thesis that they came from reason. The next step consisted of presenting the role of moral sense and sympathy as factors that trigger the subject's morality and as essential elements for the construction of social virtues. Finally, it was demonstrated that passions, according to Hume's philosophy, act as a motivating force for the individual's moral actions, so that passionate events also represent a fundamental aspect of human nature.