Hume's Touchstone and the Politics of Meaningful Discourse
In this paper I propose we read David Hume's view of meaningful discourse, or his theory of meaning, as an aspect of his theory of politics. I will argue that readings which ignore the political dimension are incomplete and distort Hume's position. When I use the word ‘political’ in the Humean context, however, it means something similar to what we mean by the term ‘social’; in the Humean context ‘politics’ is inclusive of the narrow sense taken by political science in its study of regular partisan politics and governance structures. My proposal is similar to the social-context or social-constructivist interpretations of commentators such as Pall Ardal, Donald Livingston, and Nicholas Capaldi. A political reading also stresses the importance of social context in our understanding of Hume, and agrees with the social-context argument that there is a social or political dimension to intellectual life which Hume hints at but does not address directly in Book 1 of the Treatise.
Hume on the Abstract Idea of Existence: Comments on Cummins' "Hume on the Idea of Existence"
general or universal ideas signify many particulars by signifying properties in those particulars. But these properties do not exist independently of those particulars. These ideas do not therefore represent or signify things that can exist as such, independently of particulars. “General and Universal ... belong not to the real existence of Things ... their general Nature being nothing but the Capacity they are put into by the Understanding, of signifying or representing many particulars” (Essay, 3.3.11). Or again, Quoique toutes lea choms qui existent soient singulidres, neanmoins, par le moyen des abstractions que nous venons d‘expliquer, nous ne laissons pas d‘avoir toua plusieurs sorts d’idks, dont lea unesne nous representent qu’une seule chose, ... et les autres en peuvent egalement representer plusieurs, comme lorsque quelqu’un conpit un triangle sans y considbrer autre chose, sinon que c’est une figure trois lignes et B trois angles; l’idee qu’il en a formbe peut lui servir B concevoir tous lea autres triangles. (Logique, 1.6) In general, one forms the abstract idea of a specific property by separating that specific property from the concrete particulars presented to one; and one forms generic abstract ideas by separating the generic property from the specific. Volume XVII Number 2 169
STUDIES ON TERRESTRIAL CONTAMINANTS OF METEORITES
During t h e l a s t ha l f d e c a d e a n unpara l le led upsu rge h a s t aken p l ace in t h e s tudy of meteor i tes , e s p e c i a l l y t h e ca rbonaceous chondr i tes . S c i e n t i s t s from all ove r t h e world, employing t h e newes t a n d most s e n s i t i v e an a1 y t i c a l t ec hni q u e s , i n v e s t i g a t e t h e ch e m i c a l composition of t h e o rgan ic mate t ia l found in t h e s e meteor i tes . In t h i s way they a r e trying to de te rmine t h e phys ica l c o n s t a n t s of t h e meteor i tes and e s t a b l i s h , on t h e b a s i s of minera logica l and petrolog ica l s t u d i e s , t h e cha rac t e r i s t i c s of t h e environmental condi t ions f r o m which t h e s e s t o n e s or ig ina ted and to desc r ibe and ident i fy cer ta in mic ros t ruc tu res which abound in s o m e of t h e s e ca rbonaceous chondr i tes . A l l of t h e s e research i n t e r e s t s a r e d i rec ted towards o n e pa r t i cu la r problem, t h e def in i te so lu t ion of which may indeed have revolutionary e f f e c t s o n ou r c o n c e p t s of t he universe. T h e ques t ion is whether or not t h e s e meteor i tes conta in t r a c e s of ex t ra t e r r e s t r i a l l i fe , t hus proving tha t some kind of biota eve r e x i s t e d o ther t han on t h e ear th , o r if a l l of t h o s e f ea tu res tha t t end to subs t a n t i a t e t h e prev ious ly mentioned h y p o t h e s i s a r e only t h e r e s u l t of contaminat ion by te r res t r ia l matter. T h e impor tance of t h i s problem w a s emphas ized by Berna l (1961: 130) in t h e following way: “ T h e v i t a l ques t ion cou ld be s e t t l e d o n c e and for a l l if s p e c i f i c molecu le s s u c h a s porphyrins o r nuc leo t ides were found. A counter ind ica t ion a t t he moment is t h e extremely low phosphorous conten t of t h e meteorite.” S ince tha t s t a t emen t w a s made, porphyrins (Hodgson & Baker, 1964) a n d poss i b l y nuc leo t ides (Nagy et al., 1963a) have been ident i f ied f r o m t h e Orgueil meteor i te , but s t i l l t he q u e s t i o n of t h e e x i s t e n c e of extrat e r r e s t r i a l life is far from be ing proven. I t is clear from the a b o v e tha t o n e of t h e b a s i c problems tha t o n e faces in t h e s tudy of meteor i tes is tha t of contamination. In order t o e s t a b l i s h unques t ionably t h e e x i s t e n c e o r p a s t e x i s t e n c e of ex t ra te r res t r ia l l i f e through t h e s t u d i e s of meteor i tes , two primary q u e s t i o n s h a v e to b e dea l t with s imul taneous ly . O n e h a s to d e c i d e