Abstract:

Given the difficulty of characterizing the quandary introduced in Hume’s Appendix to the Treatise, coupled with the alleged “underdetermination” of the text, it is striking how few commentators have considered whether Hume addresses and/or redresses the problem after 1740—in the first Enquiry, for example. This is not only unfortunate, but ironic; for, in the Appendix, Hume mentions that more mature reasonings may reconcile whatever contradiction(s) he has in mind. I argue that Hume’s 1746 letter to Lord Kames foreshadows a subtle, but significant, shift in Hume’s reasonings regarding the relevance of “real connexions”; that the Enquiry of 1748 provides evidence for this shift; and that this shift obviates Hume’s second thoughts by reconciling the contradiction that he had in mind. In short, Hume’s letter to Kames and Enquiry supply the retrodictive keys to a systematically satisfactory account.

摘要：

鉴于难以描述休谟的论文附录中引入的困境，再加上所谓的文本“不确定性”，令人惊讶的是，很少有评论家考虑过休谟是否在 1740 年之后解决和/或纠正了这个问题——在第一次调查中， 例如。这不仅是不幸的，而且是讽刺的；因为，在附录中，休谟提到更成熟的推理可以调和他想到的任何矛盾。我认为，休谟 1746 年给卡梅斯勋爵的信预示着休谟关于“真实联系”的相关性的推理发生了微妙但意义重大的转变；该查询1748 年为这种转变提供了证据；并且这种转变通过调和他心中的矛盾来消除休谟的第二个想法。简而言之，休谟给 Kames 和 Inquiry 的信提供了系统令人满意的帐户的追溯钥匙。