You're listening to The Parsley Examined Life, a podcast by some guys who at one point set on doing philosophy for a living, but then thought better of it.

Our question for episode 367 is something like, what is morality and how can we know it?

And we read David Hume's an inquiry concerning the principles of morals from 1751.

More information about the text and the podcast, please see Partially ExamineLife.com.

This is Mark Linsonmeyer, assiduously avoiding stepping on people's gouty toes in Madison, Wisconsin.

This is Seth Paskin, eternally and deeply questioning his utility in Austin, Wisconsin. This is Seth Paskin, eternally and deeply questioning his utility in Austin, Texas.

This is Wes Alwyn trading virtues for Gugas in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

This is Dylan Casey sentimentally connected to my virtues in Madison, Wisconsin.

I really thought someone else, it's in the reading. I did not. Bobbles, trinkets. Oh, Wisconsin. I really thought someone else would, it's in the reading.

I did not.

Bobbles, trinkets.

Oh, okay.

It's in the very last paragraph, I think.

But nevertheless, I thought that would be a very attractive target.

Well, all right.

So we are returning to human morality as an extension. At least my curiosity was piqued because of our recent stuff on sympathy slash empathy. Well, Hume was the, not the original, but was somebody that these folks were reacting to a sentimentalist that, yes, actually, morality is based on the fact that we do react when things happen,

not just to ourselves, but to other people.

So Hume was arguing against people who thought everything must be motivated by self-love

and or that morality has to come from a divine source.

No, morality is just something we build based on our

sentiments, which are given to us by human nature, even though, yes, they can vary according to

circumstance, according to what culture you're in, et cetera, et cetera. Yeah, we did this on episode

...