Varieties of Humeanism: an introduction

Abstract

David Hume has never been so popular in philosophy as he is today. This is not only because many books have recently been published about his philosophy, but also because, in various branches of philosophy, reliance on so-called “Humean” strategies in problem-solving is well-known and widely accepted. Yet, although many contemporary philosophical theories are strongly inspired by Hume’s philosophy, the path from Hume to various contemporary Humean views is not straightforward, and there are no monolithic forms of Humeanism. Since the label ‘Humeanism’ refers to many different theories, views, and ideas—some of which are only loosely connected with each other, if at all—and various representatives of these Humean views have various conceptions about what Humeanism is, it is preferable and wiser to talk about varieties of Humeanism, or simply Humeanisms.