Introduction
David Hume is a philosopher who was born in the early 1700s to his parents Joseph Hume who was a lawyer and his beloved wife Katherine Falconer in the land of Edinburgh. This is a land is found in Scotland. His family had been having a humble background but this did not give them instability in their life. When he was a small boy, he used to take religious beliefs very seriously. He derived several vices from a book of devotion in the period of 17th century. He went to Edinburgh College where he learnt for period of four years. The people from his family had expectations that he would pursue a degree in law but surprisingly he did not (Radcliffe, 2). He had been claiming that nothing could have taken from the professors who had graduated in college. He had been having a dream of being a philosopher and a scholar. He took many years carrying out his own study and reading stories about the previous philosophers. He had begun being popular and generating views which appeared very much philosophical.
Hume had fallen sick in the year 1729 and the practitioner who assessed him was able to come out with the main problem termed the condition as “the disease of the learned”. He was treated and asked to avoid being too much of a loner (Radcliffe, 2). He later moved out of his home and went to France where he had been communicating with the Jesuits. It is during this period that he had become an author of the manuscript,” A Treatise of Human Nature”. It did not do well in the market and he prepared volume of essays which were embraced in the market very well. Since then, he had become familiar to the people as a person with philosophical nature and went on doing more writings. Hume is a philosopher who gives explanation of the mind of people in terms of the principles and qualities. The analysis of this philosopher has always been used to give consideration to quantum mechanics, deferential and unique account of the mind of human beings. Hume tries to feature the different states where the content of the mental state is kept and also the identification of what is included in the content. He brings out various things that happen in the mind like comparing, rearranging, recalling and combining. In order to construct images which are creative, come out with awareness and abstract ideas, all the named activities need to be acquired from sensation.
According to Hume, people are used to approving the things that are morally right or wrong depending on what is appreciated and rejected. He had been an arguing that people usually accept issues because according to them, they have been considered right (Palmer, 53). People may find themselves doing some things which are not pleasant to them having the basis that they are considered morally right according to the societal norms and beliefs. People have got the feeling that so long as an activity is figured to be morally right, it should be approved as good to be done. There is the need to keep away emotions in order to come up conclusions which are moral. Hume also talks about trust and explains that the way people interact with others can greatly bring a nice attitude that goes beyond the moral code of ethics.
On the other hand, there is another philosopher called Hobbes. This man had been born in the late 1500s. He was a very clever man who used to read books that had been published earlier by other writers. He also used to make translations of various writings into different languages (Rosenberg, 9). During his time, countries and those who headed them were being controlled by the church. People had been subjected to following the instruction ordered by the church but Hobbes refused to do as per the rule. He had a strong believe that only religious matters were supposed to be coordinated by the church and not the entire life of the people. He was also against the people who had been fighting for freedom from the ruler for he believed that people were supposed to be under the rule of the king and do as per the commands. Hobbes life had been full of conflicts from the people who were having believes that they needed to get freedom from their king as well as the church which had a feeling that it should not only be responsible for church matters but also control all the other issues in the whole nation. Several fights had been his portion due to this issue of being against the will of the rest of the people. There could have been thoughts that he had been defending the king with an aim of getting some favor but this had not been his desire whatsoever. He went on standing strong and believing that no matter how great the conflicts would appear, they could not prevent him from managing his objective. The main aim behind his strong opinions was not any other than to ensuring that the people of the nation had been in the position off living peacefully. He had been a great thinker even though he came across numerous criticisms from the people. His thoughts and believes have been contributing much towards emergence of ideas in the modern life.
Hobbes had been believed that people desire what is good and reject the things that are considered to be bad. He had been having the feeling that there are no set limits of good and evil. People are driven to doing what they feel is good by their desires (Sofroniou, 125). He says that people like doing the things that are pleasant to them as they view them to be good. There is the tendency of doing the issues that are being felt as good and appealing to them. They do not have to mind if the issues are being viewed as morally right or wrong so long as they are going to make them happy. He goes ahead to explain that if someone lives a life out of political matters, what they want is that which will determine the good and what is not good.
Hume presents a stronger argument concerning the approach of ethics. According to him, people do what is supposed to be done in the community. They should consider standing with the right actions that will not provoke the culture. People do what is customary correct and keeps away what is not acceptable. The fact that there are implications or punishment in the society for doing what is morally wrong, people are trying as much as possible to follow the right paths. This argument is good as it tells that what is morally right is supposed to be adhered to by the people. It therefore outdates that of Hobbes which explains that people do according to the desires of their hearts. He says that what people feel like is pleasant to them is what they consider to be right and what is wrong is probably what is not desired by their hearts. This is not a strong argument as people might at a times desire what is not morally acceptable and figure it as good to them. The fact is that people have different tastes and therefore they can end up doing what is wrong to others while they are thinking that it is right.
Conclusion
It is possible to say that Hume and Hobbes are two different philosophers who viewed ethics in different perspectives. Hume argues that people are supposed to do what is viewed to be morally right and reject that which is considered to be wrong. People are expected to follow the morals of the society and ensure that their actions go as per them. On the other hand, Hobbes argues that people are supposed to do according to what they feel as appealing to their desires and reject what is not pleasant to them. By so doing, they will have done the good thing which is considered to be pleasant and wrong which is considered to be unpleasant of which they might end up doing things which are considered wrong by others. Hume’s argument appears to be stronger compared to that of Hobbes as basically people are expected to do activities which are morally right and reject that which is wrong. The desires and tastes can be contradicting as not all that people desire is considered to be right and not all that is considered to be unpleasant is wrong.
Work cited
Palmer, Daniel E. Ethical Issues in E-Business: Models and Frameworks. Hershey, Pa: IGI Global, 2010. Print.
Radcliffe, Elizabeth S. A Companion to Hume. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2008. Print.
Rosenberg, Aaron. Thomas Hobbes: An English Philosopher in the Age of Reason. New York: Rosen Pub. Group, 2006. Print.
Sofroniou, Andreas. Medical Ethics Through the Ages. Swindon: Psysys Ltd, 2003. Print.
