The David Hume Institute promotes research, analysis and debate on public policy issues. Its work is primarily focused in areas linking economics and law, with a particular interest in the interaction between institutional or legal frameworks and market forces.The offices of the David Hume Institute are based in the historic city of Edinburgh, a city with a rich academic and cultural heritage.
via www.davidhumeinstitute.com
Of the great figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Adam Smith has certainly been the most argued over recently in global intellectual circles, as capitalism's cycles become ever more convulsive. But we think David Hume, at some point, will take centre stage. As this essayist puts it, he hints at the postmodern in the decay of the modern: "rigorous scepticism about causal connections and the self, the use of irony and parody, of thought experiments, and a "naturalism" and focus on feelings as the grounds of belief, morals, and social structure". How we know what we know, epistemology and all that, seems to be the big issue as we observe our own pathological relationship with nature.
Does the David Hume Institute, run by an ex-banker at RBS, dive into the subtleties excavated by thinkers like Derrida, Deleuze and Cornel West? Ehm, naw. The site looks like it was designed by Hume itself. But they have a half-decent speakers list and document archive. Again, a sleeping giant, with a "new website" promised soon.