ABSTRACT OF PAPER
Title: Justice, Work, and Civilization in Hume's Economic Thought
Author: WENNERLIND Carl
Hume challenged contemporary philosophers who held that justice can be determined by reason or sentiment. Instead he argued that public utility is the arbiter of justice. He then proceeded to claim that a flourishing economy is the very basis of public utility. This meant that, for Hume, acts that contribute to the stability and expansion of commerce constitute justice. The second part of this paper considers the societal, cultural, and political improvements that Hume associated with a flourishing economy, paying particular attention to the transformative effects of work. The paper ultimately seeks to show how Hume's notion of justice ties in with his ideas about economic prosperity and civilization, and as such highlight the importance of reading Hume's oeuvre synthetically.
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