흄의 두 수준 정념 모델과 도덕론에 관한 연구

Abstract

David Hume's academic purpose is to establish 'science of human' about human nature through experience and observation. It is because a misunderstanding about human nature would distort ethics and have a bad influence on our action. Hume explored objective human nature not in an abstract way, but in an scientific way. As a result, he built up moral theory that was based on passion and sentiment, not on reason. Academic characteristic of this moral theory is ‘the superiority of passion over reason’. The superiority of passion over reason is supported by both ‘the motivative arguments’ that reason itself has no power to motivate the will and ‘the moral discernment arguments’ that moral distinctions are not based on reason, but based on passion and sentiment. But rational-centered moral philosophers have criticized his moral theory. There are two key points of criticism about his moral theory. It is problem of partiality of the passion and possibility of ignoring reason. In response to this objection, Hume's moral theory can be elaborated and improved into ‘Two-level Passion Model’. This model explains his moral theory, which intends to distinguish between calm and violent in passion. It makes his moral theory consistent and deals with the criticism of him.