Hume and the Problem of Causation is a book written by Tom Beauchamp

Tom Beauchamp

Tom L. Beauchamp is an American philosopher and bioethicist. He currently serves as Professor of Philosophy and Senior Research Scholar at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University. He earned his B.A. from Southern Methodist University in 1963, a B.D. from Yale Divinity School, and...

 and Alexander Rosenberg

Alexander Rosenberg

Alexander Rosenberg is an American philosopher, and the R. Taylor Cole Professor of Philosophy at Duke University.Rosenberg was educated at Stuyvesant High School, the City College of New York and Johns Hopkins University...

, published in 1981 by Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...

.

Beauchamp and Rosenberg developed a single interpretation of David Hume

David Hume

David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, known especially for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism. He was one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment...

’s view on the nature of causation that rests on all of his works, and defended it against historical and contemporary objections. They argued in particular that Hume was not a skeptic about induction

Inductive reasoning

Inductive reasoning, also known as induction or inductive logic, is a kind of reasoning that constructs or evaluates propositions that are abstractions of observations. It is commonly construed as a form of reasoning that makes generalizations based on individual instances...

 but sought to undermine a priori justifications of induction advanced by rationalist philosophers.

The book is now out of print but available on line at a web site given below.

External links

• Hume and the Problem of Causation