Paolo Castaldo
Università degli Studi di Salerno (paolocastaldo88@gmail.com; ORCID: 0000-0003- 2442-0942).
Which Subject in Hume?
Abstract: In Hume’s scholarship the notion of “subject” lacks systematic analysis. First, because it is often confused with words such as “self ”, “soul” or “person”, which repeatedly occur in the Treatise. Another reason is that the subject is almost always reduced to the famous question of personal identity. In this paper I argue that, on the one hand, the concept of subject has to be distinguished from that of “self ” or “person”, and from the question of personal identity; on the other, that a positive notion of subject emerges from the Treatise, which must ultimately be sought within the very science of human nature.
Keywords: Subject; Personal Identity; Self; Human Nature; Object.