First acted as External PhD Examiner in "David Hume" Tower & sad to see this going. Holding that serious imperfections - in this case on race - make it too "distress[ing]" to recognize incredible contributions to human story impoverishes & leads to a cowed intellectual realm.

Hume's views on race were commonplace in his day & age and not central to his thought. In contrast, whilst unmentioned, his mistaken attacks on eg homosexuality have clearer link to his philosophy. But none of this should overshadow its central & positive contribution.

Hume's philosophy has stood against irrational hatreds, oppression and superstitions & for the cultivation of a common sentiment in which all humans are valued. It is for this that #Hume is so admired & it is very sad that
@EdinburghUni wants to dissociate itself from him.

A truly humane understanding must recognize that both disagreement and serious imperfection lie at the heart of our human nature. I know from personal experience that this is a hard lesson but it also vital & should be central to an intellectual education https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-54138247?fbclid=IwAR0Qi_e_tUO7SoJ6vbbVq2IwILTitgu78xAk3kkW25Q7tbEG_amGiMapKd0