Abstract:

Hume refers to women as imaginative, compassionate, conversable, and delicate. While his appraisals of women seem disparate, I argue that they reflect a position about the distinctive role that Hume takes women to have in shaping and enforcing moral norms. On his view, I maintain, women provide us with the ideal model of a moral judge. I claim that Hume sees a tight connection between moral competency and those traits he identifies as feminine. Making this case requires clarifying a few concepts in Hume's philosophical toolbox and their relation to one another. The primary quality of a good moral judge, according to Hume, is a delicacy of taste. I show that Hume thinks of delicacy as a feminine skill that can only be developed in men imperfectly, thereby making women the ideal moral judges.

摘要：

休ume（Hume）称女性为富有想象力，富有同情心，可交流和精致的女性。尽管他对妇女的评价似乎相去甚远，但我认为，这反映了休ume对妇女在塑造和执行道德规范中所起的独特作用的立场。我认为，在他看来，妇女为我们提供了道德法官的理想模式。我声称，休see认为道德能力与他所认定的女性特质有着紧密的联系。提出这种情况需要澄清休ume哲学工具箱中的一些概念以及它们之间的关系。休ume说，一个好的道德法官的主要素质是品味的精致。我证明休ume认为美味是一种女性技能，只能在男性中发展不完善，从而使女性成为理想的道德判断者。