A Teachable Moment? David Hume and the Tower of Babel

IF 0.5 Q4 POLITICAL SCIENCE

Scottish Affairs Pub Date : 2022-05-01 DOI:10.3366/scot.2022.0406

Jonathan Hearn

引用次数: 1

Abstract

This essay reflects on the de-naming of the David Hume Tower at Edinburgh University in September 2020. It critically examines and contextualises the racist footnote written by Hume, that was the focus of calls to remove his name from the building. It argues that an opportunity was lost to ask deeper questions about the contribution of David Hume to current thought, and why we may want to commemorate historical figures, despite their flaws. In short, a ‘teachable moment’ was squandered in this event. I conclude by suggesting that such symbolic gestures as the de-naming of the David Hume Tower are not effective ways to oppose racism.

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一个可撕裂的时刻？大卫·休谟与巴别塔

这篇文章反映了2020年9月爱丁堡大学大卫休谟塔的取消命名。它批判性地审视了休谟写的种族主义脚注，并将其置于背景中，这是要求将休谟的名字从大楼中移除的呼声的焦点。该书认为，我们失去了一个提出更深层次问题的机会，这些问题是关于大卫•休谟对当代思想的贡献，以及为什么我们可能想要纪念历史人物，尽管他们有缺陷。简而言之，这次事件浪费了一个“受教育的时刻”。我的结论是，像取消大卫休谟大厦的名字这样的象征性举动并不是反对种族主义的有效方式。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Scottish Affairs POLITICAL SCIENCE-

CiteScore

1.20

自引率

25.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Scottish Affairs, founded in 1992, is the leading forum for debate on Scottish current affairs. Its predecessor was Scottish Government Yearbooks, published by the University of Edinburgh''s ''Unit for the Study of Government in Scotland'' between 1976 and 1992. The movement towards the setting up the Scottish Parliament in the 1990s, and then the debate in and around the Parliament since 1999, brought the need for a new analysis of Scottish politics, policy and society. Scottish Affairs provides that opportunity. Fully peer-reviewed, it publishes articles on matters of concern to people who are interested in the development of Scotland, often setting current affairs in an international or historical context, and in a context of debates about culture and identity. This includes articles about similarly placed small nations and regions throughout Europe and beyond. The articles are authoritative and rigorous without being technical and pedantic. No subject area is excluded, but all articles pay attention to the social and political context of their topics. Thus Scottish Affairs takes up a position between informed journalism and academic analysis, and provides a forum for dialogue between the two. The readers and contributors include journalists, politicians, civil servants, business people, academics, and people in general who take an informed interest in current affairs.