The animal reason: animality in Hume's science of man

• Grant number: 19/14764-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: October 22, 2019
• End date: October 21, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy - History of Philosophy
• Principal Investigator: Pedro Paulo Garrido Pimenta
• Grantee: Dario de Queiroz Galvão Neto
• Supervisor: Laurent Jaffro
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, France
• Associated to the scholarship: 18/03829-0 - Vivacity, pleasure and habit: the constitution of the subjectivity in David Hume, BP.DR

Abstract

This research intends to investigate the conception of animal reason in Hume's works. The objective is to examine why, according to the philosopher, we cannot deny reason to animals, as well as to seize the role of animals within humean philosophy. For this purpose, I will explore the way Hume conceives the analogy between man and animal, without ignoring their differences pointed out by the author. In this regard, it is important to examine the meaning of his conceptions of instinct and reason, considering that at a certain point reason itself becomes an instinct. In order to clarify the originality of Hume's ideas, I will also consider other conceptions of animal reason in the eighteenth century, notably those found in Buffon and Condillac, who disagreed on this subject.