David Hume: 21 Works

by David Hume

David Hume (1711 - 1776) was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist known especially for his philosophical empiricism and scepticism. He was one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment.

This collection includes a total of 21 works:
4 books:
•A Treatise Of Human Nature
•An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
•An Enquiry Concerning The Principles Of Morals
•Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion

13 essays:
•Of The Delicacy Of Taste And Passion
•Of The Liberty Of The Press
•That Politics May Be Reduced To A Science
•Of The First Principles Of Government
•Of The Origin Of Government
•Of The Independency Of Parliament
•Whether The British Government Inclines More To Absolute Monarchy Or To A Republic
•Of Parties In General
•Of The Parties Of Great Britain
•Of Superstition And Enthusiasm
•Of The Dignity Or Meanness Of Human Nature
•Of Civil Liberty
•Of Eloquence

4 audiobooks:
•A Treatise Of Human Nature
•An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
•An Enquiry Concerning The Principles Of Morals
•Dialogues Concerning Natural Rogues Concerning Natural Religion

Genres: Philosophy

1185 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 6, 2014

About the author

David Hume was a Scottish historian, philosopher, economist, diplomat and essayist known today especially for his radical philosophical empiricism and scepticism.

In light of Hume's central role in the Scottish Enlightenment, and in the history of Western philosophy, Bryan Magee judged him as a philosopher "widely regarded as the greatest who has ever written in the English language." While Hume failed in his attempts to start a university career, he took part in various diplomatic and military missions of the time. He wrote The History of England which became a bestseller, and it became the standard history of England in its day.

His empirical approach places him with John Locke, George Berkeley, and a handful of others at the time as a British Empiricist.

Beginning with his A Treatise of Human Nature (1739), Hume strove to create a total naturalistic "science of man" that examined the psychological basis of human nature. In opposition to the rationalists who preceded him, most notably René Descartes, he concluded that desire rather than reason governed human behaviour. He also argued against the existence of innate ideas, concluding that humans have knowledge only of things they directly experience. He argued that inductive reasoning and therefore causality cannot be justified rationally. Our assumptions in favour of these result from custom and constant conjunction rather than logic. He concluded that humans have no actual conception of the self, only of a bundle of sensations associated with the self.

Hume's compatibilist theory of free will proved extremely influential on subsequent moral philosophy. He was also a sentimentalist who held that ethics are based on feelings rather than abstract moral principles, and expounded the is–ought problem.

Hume has proved extremely influential on subsequent western philosophy, especially on utilitarianism, logical positivism, William James, the philosophy of science, early analytic philosophy, cognitive philosophy, theology and other movements and thinkers. In addition, according to philosopher Jerry Fodor, Hume's Treatise is "the founding document of cognitive science". Hume engaged with contemporary intellectual luminaries such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, James Boswell, and Adam Smith (who acknowledged Hume's influence on his economics and political philosophy). Immanuel Kant credited Hume with awakening him from "dogmatic slumbers".

Reviews

[BarbJerry Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just re-read a couple of essays mentioned in Walter Isaacson's biography of Einstein. Well worth. So is Isaacson.

[Roman G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps my greatest accomplishment