David Hume

Book

Hume: Dissertation on the Passions

Author

Hume analyses the direct and indirect passions, their causes and their relations with the will. It shows that human action is driven by feelings rather than by reason alone.

• Philosophy

Book 1748

Hume: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

Author

“It is vain to pretend to teach the principles and contents of Hume's philosophy. And the problem is not to leave room for controversy, but to understand that we are not dealing with a system, that the principles are obscure and that the contents are skeptical. The career of commentary is indefinitely open, as long as one does not fall into dogmatism. Through a constantly deceptive rationality, Hume brings all those…

• Philosophy
• Classical

Book 1751

Hume: An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals

Author

Hume seeks the origin of our moral judgments in human experience. He examines utility, benevolence, sympathy and the feeling of approval to show that morality is neither reduced to personal interest nor to an abstract reason: it is rooted in our sensitivity and in common life.

• Philosophy

Book 1741

Hume: Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary

Author

Through their diversity, depth of reflection and elegance of style, these essays perfectly serve Hume's purpose: that of developing a practical philosophy, closely linked to common life. Some titles of these essays: The Delicacy of Taste and the Delicacy of Passion, On Freedom of the Press, On Impudence and Modesty, On Love and Marriage, On the Study of History, On the Independence of Parliament...

• Philosophy

Book 1739

Hume: A Treatise of Human Nature

Author

It was in 1734, at the age of twenty-three, that the young David Hume began writing A Treatise on Human Nature. Complex and polymorphous, this Treatise aims to establish a “science of man”, that is to say a science whose object would be the human being, studied as a phenomenon. It consists of three books, the first two of which appeared in 1739 and the third in 1740.

• Philosophy