For other people named David Hume see David Hume (disambiguation). David Hume David Hume Born 7 May 1711(1711-05-07) Edinburgh Scotland Died 25 August 1776(1776-08-25) (aged 65) Edinburgh Scotland Era 18th-century philosophy Region Western Philosophy School Scottish Enlightenment; Naturalism Skepticism Empiricism Utilitarianism Classical liberalism Main interests Epistemology Metaphysics Philosophy of Mind Ethics Political Philosophy Aesthetics Philosophy of Religion Classical Economics Notable ideas Problem of causation Bundle theory Induction Isought problem Utility Science of man Influenced by Locke Descartes Berkeley Hobbes Hutcheson Newton Leibniz Epicurus Cicero Malebranche Earl of Shaftesbury Sextus Empiricus Pyrrho Pierre Bayle Influenced Adam Smith Adam Ferguson Immanuel Kant Jeremy Bentham James Madison Alexander Hamilton Arthur Schopenhauer African Spir Auguste Comte John Stuart Mill Baron d'Holbach Charles Darwin Thomas Huxley William James Bertrand Russell Albert Einstein Karl Popper A. J. Ayer J. L. Mackie Noam Chomsky Simon Blackburn David Kellogg Lewis W.V.O. Quine Daniel Dennett Jerry Fodor Kenneth Binmore Gilles Deleuze

David Hume (7 May 1711 26 April O.S. 25 August 1776) was a Scottish philosopher historian economist and essayist known especially for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment. Hume is often grouped with John Locke George Berkeley and a handful of others as a British Empiricist.1

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 stark opposition to the rationalists who preceded him most notably Descartes he concluded that desire rather than reason governed human behaviour saying famously: "Reason is and ought only to be the slave of the passions." A prominent figure in the skeptical philosophical tradition and a strong empiricist he argued against the existence of innate ideas concluding instead that humans have knowledge only of things they directly experience. Thus he divides perceptions between strong and lively "impressions" or direct sensations and fainter "ideas" which are copied from impressions. He developed the position that mental behaviour is governed by "custom"; our use of induction for example is justified only by our idea of the "constant conjunction" of causes and effects. Without direct impressions of a metaphysical "self" he concluded that humans have no actual conception of the self only of a bundle of sensations associated with the self. Hume advocated a compatibilist theory of free will that 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. Hume also examined the normative isought problem. He held notoriously ambiguous views of Christianity2 but famously challenged the argument from design in his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779).

Kant credited Hume with waking him up from his "dogmatic slumbers" and Hume has proved extremely influential on subsequent philosophy especially on utilitarianism logical positivism William James philosophy of science early analytic philosophy cognitive philosophy and other movements and thinkers. The philosopher Jerry Fodor proclaimed Hume's Treatise "the founding document of cognitive science."3 Also famous as a prose stylist4 Hume pioneered the essay as a literary genre and engaged with contemporary intellectual luminaries such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau Adam Smith (who acknowledged Hume's influence on his economics and political philosophy) James Boswell Joseph Butler and Thomas Reid. Contents 1 Life 1.1 Education 1.2 Career 1.3 Religion 1.4 Later life 2 Science of man 2.1 Induction 2.2 Causation 2.3 The self 2.4 Practical reason 2.5 Ethics 2.6 Free will determinism and responsibility 2.7 Problem of miracles 2.8 Design argument 2.9 Political theory 2.10 Contributions to economic thought 3 As historian of England 4 Works 5 Hume's influence 6 See also 7 Further reading 8 References 9 External links 10 Footnotes Life

David Hume originally David Home son of Joseph Home of Chirnside advocate and Katherine Falconer was born on 26 April 1711 (Old Style) in a tenement on the north side of the Lawnmarket in Edinburgh. He changed his name in 1734 because the English had difficulty pronouncing 'Home' in the Scottish manner. Throughout his life Hume who never married spent time occasionally at his family home at Ninewells by Chirnside Berwickshire. Education An engraving of Hume from his The History of England Vol. I (1754)

Hume attended the University of Edinburgh at the unusually early age of twelve (possibly as young as ten) at a time when fourteen was normal. At first he considered a career in law but came to have in his words "an insurmountable aversion to everything but the pursuits of Philosophy and general Learning; and while my family fanceyed I was poring over Voet and Vinnius Cicero and Virgil were the Authors which I was secretly devouring".5 He had little respect for the professors of his time telling a friend in 1735 "there is nothing to be learnt from a Professor which is not to be met with in Books".6

Hume made a philosophical discovery that opened up to him "...a new Scene of Thought" which inspired him "...to throw up every other Pleasure or Business to apply entirely to it."7 He did not recount what this "Scene" was and commentators have offered a variety of speculations.8 Due to this inspiration Hume set out to spend a minimum of ten years reading and writing. He came to the verge of nervous breakdown after which he decided to have a more active life to better continue his learning.9 Career

As Hume's options lay between a traveling tutorship and a stool in a merchant's office he chose the latter. In 1734 after a few months occupied with commerce in Bristol he went to La Flche in Anjou France. There he had frequent discourse with the Jesuits of the College of La Flche. As he had spent most of his savings during his four years there while writing A Treatise of Human Nature9 he resolved "to make a very rigid frugality supply my deficiency of fortune to maintain unimpaired my independency and to regard every object as contemptible except the improvements of my talents in literature".10 He completed the Treatise at the age of 26.

Although many scholars today consider the Treatise to be Hume's most important work and one of the most important books in Western philosophy the critics in Great Britain at the time did not agree describing it as "abstract and unintelligible".11 Despite the disappointment Hume later wrote "Being naturally of a cheerful and sanguine temper I soon recovered from the blow and prosecuted with great ardour my studies in the country".10 There he wrote the Abstract12 Without revealing his authorship he aimed to make his larger work more intelligible.

After the publication of Essays Moral and Political in 1744 Hume applied for the Chair of Pneumatics and Moral Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. However the position was given to William Cleghorn after Edinburgh ministers petitioned the town council not to appoint Hume because he was seen as an atheist.13 During the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion Hume tutored the Marquis of Annandale (172092) who was officially described as a "lunatic".14 This engagement ended in disarray after about a year. But it was then that Hume started his great historical work The History of England which took fifteen years and ran over a million words to be published in six volumes in the period between 1754 and 1762 while also involved with the Canongate Theatre. In this context he associated with Lord Monboddo and other Scottish Enlightenment luminaries in Edinburgh. From 1746 Hume served for three years as Secretary to Lieutenant-General St Clair and wrote Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding later published as An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. The Enquiry proved little more successful than the Treatise. Hume was charged with heresy but he was defended by his young clerical friends who argued thatas an atheisthe was outside the Church's jurisdiction. Despite his acquittal Hume failed to gain the Chair of Philosophy at the University of Glasgow. It was after returning to Edinburgh in 1752 as he wrote in My Own Life that "the Faculty of Advocates chose me their Librarian an office from which I received little or no emolument but which gave me the command of a large library".15 This resource enabled him to continue historical research for The History of England. Hume achieved great literary fame as a historian. His enormous The History of England tracing events from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution of 1688 was a best-seller in its day. In it Hume presented political man as a creature of habit with a disposition to submit quietly to established government unless confronted by uncertain circumstances. In his view only religious difference could deflect men from their everyday lives to think about political matters. However Hume's volume of Political Discourses (published by Kincaid & Donaldson 1752)16 was the only work he considered successful on first publication.17 Religion Tomb of David Hume in Edinburgh Hume wrote a great deal on religion. However the question of what were Hume's personal views on religion is a difficult one.18 The Church of Scotland seriously considered bringing charges of infidelity against him.19 He never declared himself to be an atheist but had he been hostile to religion Hume would have been persecuted and his writings constrained perhaps the reason behind his ambiguity. He did not acknowledge his authorship of many of his works in this area until close to his death and some were not even published until afterwards. In works such as On Superstition and Enthusiasm Hume specifically seems to support the standard religious views of his time and place. This still meant that he could be very critical of the Catholic Church referring to it with the standard Protestant epithets and descriptions of it as superstition and idolatry20 as well as dismissing what his compatriots saw as uncivilised beliefs.21 He also considered extreme Protestant sects which he called enthusiasts to be corrupters of religion.22 Yet he also put forward arguments that suggested that polytheism had much to commend it in preference to monotheism.23 In his works he attacked many of the basic assumptions of religion and Christian belief and his arguments have become the foundation of much of the succeeding secular thinking about religion. In his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion one of his protagonists challenged one of the intellectual arguments for belief in God or one god (especially in the Age of Enlightenment): the Argument from Design. Also in his Of Miracles he challenged the idea that religion (specifically Christianity) is supported by revelation. Nevertheless he was capable of writing in the introduction to his The Natural History of Religion "The whole frame of nature bespeaks an intelligent author". In spite of that he writes at the end of the essay: "Examine the religious principles which have in fact prevailed in the world. You will scarcely be persuaded that they are anything but sick men's dreams" and "Doubt uncertainty suspence of judgement appear the only result of our most accurate scrutiny concerning this subject". It is likely that Hume was skeptical both about religious belief (at least as demanded by the religious organisations of his time) and of the complete atheism promoted by such contemporaries as Baron d'Holbach. Russell (2008) suggests that perhaps Hume's position is best characterised by the term "irreligion". O'Connor (2001 p19) writes that Hume "did not believe in the God of standard theism. ... but he did not rule out all concepts of deity". Also "ambiguity suited his purposes and this creates difficulty in definitively pinning down his final position on religion". Later life From 1763 to 1765 Hume was Secretary to Lord Hertford in Paris. He met and later fell out with Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He wrote of his Paris life "I really wish often for the plain roughness of The Poker Club of Edinburgh ... to correct and qualify so much lusciousness".24 For a year from 1767 Hume held the appointment of Under Secretary of State for the Northern Department. In 1768 he settled in Edinburgh; he lived from 1771 until his death in 1776 at the southwest corner of St. Andrew's Square in Edinburgh's New Town at what is now 21 Saint David Street. (A popular story consistent with some historical evidence25 suggests the street was named after Hume.) James Boswell saw Hume a few weeks before his death (most likely of either bowel or liver cancer). Hume told him he sincerely believed it a "most unreasonable fancy" that there might be life after death.26 This meeting was dramatized in semi-fictional form for the BBC by Michael Ignatieff as Dialogue in the Dark. Hume asked that he be interred in a "simple roman tomb"; in his will he requests that it be inscribed only with his name and the year of his birth and death "leaving it to Posterity to add the Rest."27 It stands as he wished it on the southeastern slope of Calton Hill in the Old Calton Cemetery not far from his New Town home. Science of man A statue of Hume by Alexander Stoddart on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh In the introduction to A Treatise of Human Nature Hume writes "'Tis evident that all the sciences have a relation more or less to human nature ... Even Mathematics Natural Philosophy and Natural Religion are in some measure dependent on the science of Man". Also "the science of man is the only solid foundation for the other sciences" and the method for this science assumes "experience and observation" as the foundations of a logical argument.28 Because "Hume's plan is to extend to philosophy in general the methodological limitations of Newtonian physics"29 Hume is characterised as an empiricist. Until recently Hume was seen as a forerunner of the logical positivist movement; a form of anti-metaphysical empiricism. According to the logical positivists unless a statement could be verified by experience or else was true or false by definition (i.e. either tautological or contradictory) then it was meaningless (this is a summary statement of their verification principle). Hume on this view was a proto-positivist who in his philosophical writings attempted to demonstrate how ordinary propositions about objects causal relations the self and so on are semantically equivalent to propositions about one's experiences.30 Many commentators have since rejected this understanding of Humean empiricism stressing an epistemological rather than a semantic reading of his project.31 According to this view Hume's empiricism consisted in the idea that it is our knowledge and not our ability to conceive that is restricted to what can be experienced. To be sure Hume thought that we can form beliefs about that which extends beyond any possible experience through the operation of faculties such as custom and the imagination but he was skeptical about claims to knowledge on this basis. Induction The cornerstone of Hume's epistemology is the so-called Problem of Induction. It has been argued that it is in this area of Hume's thought that his skepticism about human powers of reason is the most pronounced.32 Understanding the problem of induction then is central to grasping Hume's general philosophical system. The problem concerns the explanation of how we are able to make inductive inferences. Inductive inference is reasoning from the observed behaviour of objects to their behaviour when unobserved; as Hume says it is a question of how things behave when they go "beyond the present testimony of the senses and the records of our memory".33 Hume notices that we tend to believe that things behave in a regular manner; i.e. that patterns in the behaviour of objects will persist into the future and throughout the unobserved present. This persistence of regularities is sometimes called Uniformitarianism or the Principle of the Uniformity of Nature. Hume's argument is that we cannot rationally justify the claim that nature will continue to be uniform as justification comes in only two varieties and both of these are inadequate. The two sorts are: (1) demonstrative reasoning and (2) probable reasoning.34 With regard to (1) Hume argues that the uniformity principle cannot be demonstrated as it is "consistent and conceivable" that nature might stop being regular.35 Turning to (2) Hume argues that we cannot hold that nature will continue to be uniform because it has been in the past as this is using the very sort of reasoning (induction) that is under question: it would be circular reasoning.36 Thus no form of justification will rationally warrant our inductive inferences. Hume's solution to this skeptical problem is to argue that rather than reason it is natural instinct that explains our ability to make inductive inferences. He asserts that "Nature by an absolute and uncontroulable sic necessity has determin'd us to judge as well as to breathe and feel". Although many modern commentators have demurred from Hume's solution37 some have concurred with it seeing his analysis of our epistemic predicament as a major contribution to the theory of knowledge. For example the Oxford Professor John D. Kenyon writes: Reason might manage to raise a doubt about the truth of a conclusion of natural inductive inference just for a moment in the study but the forces of nature will soon overcome that artificial skepticism and the sheer agreeableness of animal faith will protect us from excessive caution and sterile suspension of belief.38 Causation The notion of causation is closely linked to the problem of induction. According to Hume we reason inductively by associating constantly conjoined events and it is the mental act of association that is the basis of our concept of causation. There are three main interpretations of Hume's theory of causation represented in the literature: (1) the logical positivist; (2) the skeptical realist; and (3) the quasi-realist. The logical positivist interpretation is that Hume analyses causal propositions such as "A caused B" in terms of regularities in perception: "A caused B" is equivalent to "Whenever A-type events happen B-type ones follow" where "whenever" refers to all possible perceptions.39 power and necessity... are... qualities of perceptions not of objects... felt by the soul and not perceived externally in bodies40 This view is rejected by skeptical realists who argue that Hume thought that causation amounts to more than just the regular succession of events.31 When two events are causally conjoined a necessary connection underpins the conjunction: Shall we rest contented with these two relations of contiguity and succession as affording a complete idea of causation By no means ... there is a necessary connexion to be taken into consideration.41 Hume held that we have no perceptual access to the necessary connection (hence skepticism) but we are naturally compelled to believe in its objective existence (hence realism). It has been argued that whilst Hume did not think causation is reducible to pure regularity he was not a fully fledged realist either: Simon Blackburn calls this a quasi-realist reading.42 On this view talk about causal necessity is an expression of a functional change in the human mind whereby certain events are predicted or anticipated on the basis of prior experience. The expression of causal necessity is a "projection" of the functional change onto the objects involved in the causal connection: in Hume's words "nothing is more usual than to apply to external bodies every internal sensation which they occasion.43 The self According to the standard interpretation of Hume on personal identity he was a Bundle Theorist who held that the self is nothing but a bundle of interconnected perceptions linked by the property of constancy and coherence; or more accurately that our idea of the self is just the idea of such a bundle. This view is forwarded by for example positivist interpreters who saw Hume as suggesting that terms such as "self" "person" or "mind" referred to collections of "sense-contents".44 A modern-day version of the bundle theory of the mind has been advanced by Derek Parfit in his Reasons and Persons (1986). However some philosophers have criticised the bundle-theory interpretation of Hume on personal identity. They argue that distinct selves can have perceptions that stand in relations of similarity and causality with one another. Thus perceptions must already come parceled into distinct "bundles" before they can be associated according to the relations of similarity and causality: in other words the mind must already possess a unity that cannot be generated or constituted by these relations alone. Since the bundle-theory interpretation attributes Hume with answering an ontological or conceptual question philosophers who see Hume as not very concerned with such questions have queried whether the view is really Hume's or "only a decoy".45 Instead it is suggested Hume might have been answering an epistemological question about the causal origin of our concept of the self. Another interpretation of Hume's view of the self has been argued for by James Giles.46 According to this view Hume is not arguing for a bundle theory which is a form of reductionism but rather for an eliminative view of the self. That is rather than reducing the self to a bundle of perceptions Hume is rejecting the idea of the self altogether. On this interpretation Hume is proposing a 'No-Self Theory' and thus has much in common with Buddhist thought.47 Practical reason Hume's anti-rationalism informed much of his theory of belief and knowledge in his treatment of the notions of induction causation and the external world. But it was not confined to this sphere and permeated just as strongly his theories of motivation action and morality. In a famous sentence in the Treatise Hume circumscribes reason's role in the production of action: Reason is and ought only to be the slave of the passions and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.48 It has been suggested that this position can be lucidly brought out through the metaphor of "direction of fit": beliefsthe paradigmatic products of reasonare propositional attitudes that aim to have their content fit the world; conversely desiresor what Hume calls passions or sentimentsare states that aim to fit the world to their contents.49 Though a metaphor it has been argued that this intuitive way of understanding Hume's theory that desires are necessary for motivation "captures something quite deep in our thought about their nature".50 Hume's anti-rationalism has been very influential and defended in contemporary philosophy of action by neo-Humeans such as Michael Smith50 and Simon Blackburn51 The major opponents of the Humean view are cognitivists about what it is to act for a reason such as John McDowell52 and Kantians such as Christine Korsgaard.53 Ethics Hume's views on human motivation and action formed the cornerstone of his ethical theory: he conceived moral or ethical sentiments to be intrinsically motivating or the providers of reasons for action. Given that one cannot be motivated by reason alone requiring the input of the passions Hume argued that reason cannot be behind morality Morals excite passions and produce or prevent actions. Reason itself is utterly impotent in this particular. The rules of morality therefore are not conclusions of our reason.54 Hume's sentimentalism about morality was shared by his close friend Adam Smith55 and Hume and Smith were mutually influenced by the moral reflections of Francis Hutcheson.56 Hume's theory of ethics has been influential in modern day ethical theory helping to inspire various forms of emotivism5758 error theory59 and ethical expressivism and non-cognitivism60 and Alan Gibbard.61 See also: isought problem Free will determinism and responsibility Hume along with Thomas Hobbes is cited as a classical compatibilist about the notions of freedom and determinism.62 The thesis of compatibilism seeks to reconcile human freedom with the mechanist belief that human beings are part of a deterministic universe whose happenings are governed by the laws of physics. Hume argued that the dispute about the compatibility of freedom and determinism has been kept afloat by ambiguous terminology: From this circumstance alone that a controversy has been long kept on foot... we may presume that there is some ambiguity in the expression.63 Hume defines the concepts of "necessity" and "liberty" as follows: Necessity: "the uniformity observable in the operations of nature; where similar objects are constantly conjoined together..".64 Liberty: "a power of acting or not acting according to the determinations of the will..".65 Hume then argues that according to these definitions not only are the two compatible but Liberty requires Necessity. For if our actions were not necessitated in the above sense they would "...have so little in connexion with motives inclinations and circumstances that one does not follow with a certain degree of uniformity from the other." But if our actions are not thus hooked up to the will then our actions can never be free: they would be matters of "chance; which is universally allowed not to exist".65 Moreover Hume goes on to argue that in order to be held morally responsible it is required that our behaviour be caused i.e. necessitated for Actions are by their very nature temporary and perishing; and where they proceed not from some cause in the character and disposition of the person who performed them they can neither redound to his honour if good; nor infamy if evil66 This argument has inspired modern day commentators.67 However it has been argued that the issue of whether or not we hold one another morally responsible does not ultimately depend on the truth or falsity of a metaphysical thesis such as determinism for our so holding one another is a non-rational human sentiment that is not predicated on such theses. For this influential argument which is still made in a Humean vein see P. F. Strawson's essay Freedom and Resentment.68 Problem of miracles In his discussion of miracles in An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding (Section 10) Hume defines a miracle as "a transgression of a law of nature by a particular volition of the Deity or by the interposition of some invisible agent". Given that Hume argues that it is impossible to deduce the existence of a Deity from the existence of the world (for he says that causes cannot be determined from effects) miracles (including prophesy) are the only possible support he would conceivably allow for theistic religions. Hume discusses everyday belief as often resulted from probability where we believe an event that has occurred most often as being most likely but that we also subtract the weighting of the less common event from that of the more common event. In the context of miracles this means that a miraculous event should be labelled a miracle only where it would be even more unbelievable (by principles of probability) for it not to be. Hume mostly discusses miracles as testimony of which he writes that when a person reports a miraculous event we need to balance our belief in their veracity against our belief that such events do not occur. Following this rule only where it is considered as a result of experience less likely that the testimony is false than that a miracle occur should we believe in miracles. Although Hume leaves open the possibility for miracles to occur and be reported he offers various arguments against this ever having happened in history:69 People often lie and they have good reasons to lie about miracles occurring either because they believe they are doing so for the benefit of their religion or because of the fame that results. People by nature enjoy relating miracles they have heard without caring for their veracity and thus miracles are easily transmitted even where false. Hume notes that miracles seem to occur mostly in "ignorant" and "barbarous" nations and times and the reason they don't occur in the "civilized" societies is such societies aren't awed by what they know to be natural events. The miracles of each religion argue against all other religions and their miracles and so even if a proportion of all reported miracles across the world fit Hume's requirement for belief the miracles of each religion make the other less likely. Despite all this Hume observes that belief in miracles is popular and that "The gazing populace receive greedily without examination whatever soothes superstition and promotes wonder".70 Critics have argued that Hume's position assumes the character of miracles and natural laws prior to any specific examination of miracle claims and thus it amounts to a subtle form of begging the question. They have also noted that it requires an appeal to inductive inference as none have observed every part of nature or examined every possible miracle claim (e.g. those yet future to the observer) which in Hume's philosophy was especially problematic. Hume's main argument concerning miracles is the following. Miracles by definition are singular events that differ from the established Laws of Nature. The Laws of Nature are codified as a result of past experiences. Therefore a miracle is a violation of all prior experience. However the probability that something has occurred in contradiction of all past experience should always be judged to be less than the probability that either my senses have deceived me or the person recounting the miraculous occurrence is lying or mistaken all of which I have past experience of. For Hume this refusal to grant credence does not guarantee correctness he offers the example of an Indian Prince who having grown up in a hot country refuses to believe that water has frozen. By Hume's lights this refusal is not wrong and the Prince is thinking correctly; it is presumably only when he has had extensive experience of the freezing of water that he has warrant to believe that the event could occur. So for Hume either the miraculous event will become a recurrent event or else it will never be rational to believe it occurred. The connection to religious belief is left inexplicit throughout save for the close of his discussion wherein Hume notes the reliance of Christianity upon testimony of miraculous occurrences and makes an ironic 7172 remark that anyone who "is moved by faith to assent" to revealed testimony "is aware of a continued miracle in his own person which subverts all principles of his understanding and gives him a determination to believe what is most contrary to custom and experience." Design argument One of the oldest and most popular arguments for the existence of God is the design argument: that order and "purpose" in the world bespeaks a divine origin. Hume gave the classic criticism of the design argument in Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion and An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding. Hume argued that for the design argument to be feasible it must be true that order and purpose are observed only when they result from design. But order is often observed to result from presumably mindless processes like the generation of snowflakes and crystals. Design can account for only a tiny part of our experience of order. Furthermore the design argument is based on an incomplete analogy. Because of our experience with objects we can recognise human-designed ones as when we compare a pile of stones with a constructed wall but to deduce that the Universe is designed we would need to have an experience of a range of different universes. As we only experience one the analogy cannot be applied. We must ask therefore if it is right to compare the world to a machineas in Paley's watchmaker analogywhen perhaps it could be better described as a giant inert animal. Even if the design argument is completely successful it could not (in and of itself) establish a robust theism. One could easily reach the conclusion that the universe's configuration is the result of some morally ambiguous possibly unintelligent agent or agents whose method bears only a remote similarity to human design. In this way it could be asked if the Universe is designed is the designer God It could also be asked if there is a designer god who designed the designer If a well-ordered natural world requires a special designer then God's mind (being so well-ordered) also requires a special designer. Then this designer would need a designer and so on ad infinitum. Furthermore if we could be happy with an inexplicably self-ordered divine mind why should we not rest content with an inexplicably self-ordered natural world Often what appears to be purpose where it looks like object X has feature F in order to secure outcome O is better explained by a filtering process: that is object X wouldn't be around did it not possess feature F and outcome O is only interesting to us as a human projection of goals onto nature. This mechanical explanation of teleology anticipated natural selection. See also: anthropic principle and problem of evil Political theory Part of a series on Utilitarianism Predecessors Epicurus David Hume  William Godwin  Francis Hutcheson People Jeremy Bentham  John Stuart Mill Henry Sidgwick  Richard Mervyn Hare  Peter Singer Types of utilitarianism Preference  Rule  Act Two-level  Total  Average Relative  Negative  Hedonism Enlightened self-interest Key concepts Pain  Suffering  Pleasure Utility  Happiness  Eudaimonia Consequentialism  Felicific calculus Problems Mere addition paradox Paradox of hedonism Utility monster Related topics Rational choice theory  Game theory Social choice  Neoclassical economics   Politics portal v d e It is difficult to categorize Hume's political affiliations. His thought contains elements that are in modern terms both conservative and liberal as well as ones that are both contractarian and utilitarian though these terms are all anachronistic. Thomas Jefferson banned Hume's History from the University of Virginia fearing that it "has spread universal toryism over the land".73 Yet Samuel Johnson thought Hume "a Tory by chance... for he has no principle. If he is anything he is a Hobbist".74 His central concern is to show the importance of the rule of law and stresses throughout his political Essays the importance of moderation in politics. This outlook needs to be seen within the historical context of eighteenth century Scotland where the legacy of religious civil war combined with the relatively recent memory of the 1715 and 1745 Jacobite risings fostered in a historian such as Hume a distaste for enthusiasm and factionalism that appeared to threaten the fragile and nascent political and social stability of a country that was deeply politically and religiously divided. He thinks that society is best governed by a general and impartial system of laws based principally on the "artifice" of contract; he is less concerned about the form of government that administers these laws so long as it does so fairly (though he thought that republics were more likely to do so than monarchies). Hume expressed suspicion of attempts to reform society in ways that departed from long-established custom and he counselled peoples not to resist their governments except in cases of the most egregious tyranny.75 However he resisted aligning himself with either of Britain's two political parties the Whigs and the Tories. Hume writes My views of things are more conformable to Whig principles; my representations of persons to Tory prejudices.76 McArthur says that Hume believed that we should try to balance our demands for liberty with the need for strong authority without sacrificing either. McArthur characterizes Hume as a 'precautionary conservative': whose actions would have been "determined by prudential concerns about the consequences of change which often demand we ignore our own principles about what is ideal or even legitimate"77 He supported liberty of the press and was sympathetic to democracy when suitably constrained. Douglass Adair has argued that Hume was a major inspiration for James Madison's writings and the Federalist No. 10 in particular.78 Hume was also in general an optimist about social progress believing that thanks to the economic development that comes with the expansion of trade societies progress from a state of "barbarism" to one of "civilisation". Civilised societies are open peaceful and sociable and their citizens are as a result much happier. It is therefore not fair to characterise him as Leslie Stephen did as favouring "...that stagnation which is the natural ideal of a skeptic."79 Though it has been suggested Hume had no positive vision of the best society he in fact produced an essay titled Idea of a Perfect Commonwealth80 which lays out what he thought was the best form of government. His pragmatism shone through however in his caveat that we should only seek to implement such a system should an opportunity present itself which would not upset established structures. He defended a strict separation of powers decentralisation extending the franchise to anyone who held property of value and limiting the power of the clergy. The Swiss militia system was proposed as the best form of protection. Elections were to take place on an annual basis and representatives were to be unpaid. It is also important to note that the ideal commonwealth laid out by Hume was held to be ideal only for the British Isles in the 18th century. Hume was a relativist and realized that such a form of government would not be ideal for all cultures nor would it necessarily be permanent as historical conditions change.citation needed Contributions to economic thought Statues of David Hume and Adam Smith by David Watson Stevenson on the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh Through his discussions on politics Hume developed many ideas that are prevalent in the field of economics. This includes ideas on private property inflation and foreign trade.81 Hume does not believe as Locke does that private property is a natural right but he argues that it is justified since resources are limited. If all goods were unlimited and available freely then private property would not be justified but instead becomes an "idle ceremonial". Hume also believed in unequal distribution of property because perfect equality would destroy the ideas of thrift and industry. Perfect equality would thus lead to impoverishment.82 Hume did not believe that foreign trade produced specie but considered trade a stimulus for a country's economic growth. He did not consider the volume of world trade as fixed because countries can feed off their neighbors' wealth being part of a "prosperous community". The fall in foreign demand is not that fatal because in the long run a country cannot preserve a leading trading position. Hume was among the first to develop automatic price-specie flow an idea that contrasts with the mercantile system. Simply put when a country increases its in-flow of gold this in-flow of gold will result in price inflation and then price inflation will force out countries from trading that would have traded before the inflation. This results in a decrease of the in-flow of gold in the long run. Hume also proposed a theory of beneficial inflation. He believed that increasing the money supply would raise production in the short run. This phenomenon would be caused by a gap between the increase in the money supply and that of the price level. The result is that prices will not rise at first and may not rise at all. This theory was later developed by John Maynard Keynes. As historian of England Between Hume's death and 1894 there were at least 50 editions of his 6-volume History of England a work of immense sweep. The subtitle tells us as much "From the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution in 1688". There was also an often-reprinted abridgement The Student's Hume (1859). Another remarkable feature of the series was that it widened the focus of history away from merely Kings Parliaments and armies including literature and science as well. Works A Kind of History of My Life (1734) Mss 23159 National Library of Scotland. A letter to an unnamed physician asking for advice about "the Disease of the Learned" that then afflicted him. Here he reports that at the age of eighteen "there seem'd to be open'd up to me a new Scene of Thought..." that made him "throw up every other Pleasure or Business" and turned him to scholarship.citation needed A Treatise of Human Nature: Being an Attempt to introduce the experimental Method of Reasoning into Moral Subjects. (173940) Hume intended to see whether the Treatise of Human Nature met with success and if so to complete it with books devoted to Politics and Criticism. However it did not meet with success. As Hume himself said "It fell dead-born from the press without reaching such distinction as even to excite a murmur among the zealots"10 and so was not completed. An Abstract of a Book lately Published: Entitled A Treatise of Human Nature etc. (1740) Anonymously published but almost certainly written by Hume83 in an attempt to popularise his Treatise. Of considerable philosophical interest because it spells out what he considered "The Chief Argument" of the Treatise in a way that seems to anticipate the structure of the Enquiry concerning Human Understanding. Essays Moral and Political (first ed. 17412) A collection of pieces written and published over many years though most were collected together in 17534. Many of the essays are focused on topics in politics and economics though they also range over questions of aesthetic judgement love marriage and polygamy and the demographics of ancient Greece and Rome to name just a few of the topics considered. The Essays show some influence from Addison's Tatler and The Spectator which Hume read avidly in his youth. A Letter from a Gentleman to His Friend in Edinburgh: Containing Some Observations on a Specimen of the Principles concerning Religion and Morality said to be maintain'd in a Book lately publish'd intituled A Treatise of Human Nature etc. Edinburgh (1745). Contains a letter written by Hume to defend himself against charges of atheism and scepticism while applying for a Chair at Edinburgh University. An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding (1748) Contains reworking of the main points of the Treatise Book 1 with the addition of material on free will (adapted from Book 2) miracles the Design Argument and mitigated scepticism. Of Miracles section X of the Enquiry was often published separately An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (1751) A reworking of material from Book 3 of the Treatise on morality but with a significantly different emphasis. Hume regarded this as the best of all his philosophical workscitation needed both in its philosophical ideas and in its literary style. Political Discourses (part II of Essays Moral Political and Literary within vol. 1 of the larger Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects) Edinburgh (1752). Included in Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects (17536) reprinted 175877. Political Discourses/Discours politiques (17521758) My ovn life (1776) Of Essay writing 1742. Bilingual English-French (translated by Fabien Grandjean). Mauvezin France Trans-Europ-Repress 1993 22 cm V-260 p. Bibliographic notes index. Four Dissertations London (1757). Included in reprints of Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects (above). The History of England (Sometimes referred to as The History of Great Britain) (175462) Freely available in six vols. from the On Line Library of Liberty.84 More a category of books than a single work Hume's history spanned "from the invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution of 1688" and went through over 100 editions. Many considered it the standard history of England until Thomas Macaulay's History of England. The Natural History of Religion (1757) "My Own Life" (1776) Penned in April shortly before his death this autobiography was intended for inclusion in a new edition of "Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects". It was first published by Adam Smith who claimed that by doing so he had incurred "ten times more abuse than the very violent attack I had made upon the whole commercial system of Great Britain".citation needed (Ernest Campbell Mossner The Life of David Hume) Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779) Published posthumously by his nephew David Hume the Younger. Being a discussion among three fictional characters concerning the nature of God and is an important portrayal of the argument from design. Despite some controversy most scholars agree that the view of Philo the most sceptical of the three comes closest to Hume's own.85 Hume's influence Attention to Hume's philosophical works grew after the German philosopher Immanuel Kant credited Hume with awakening him from "dogmatic slumbers" (circa 1770).86 According to Schopenhauer "there is more to be learned from each page of David Hume than from the collected philosophical works of Hegel Herbart and Schleiermacher taken together".87 A. J. Ayer (1936) introducing his classic exposition of logical positivism claimed: "The views which are put forward in this treatise derive from the logical outcome of the empiricism of Berkeley and Hume."88 Albert Einstein (1915) wrote that he was inspired by Hume's positivism when formulating his Special Theory of Relativity.89 Hume was called "the prophet of the Wittgensteinian revolution" by N. Phillipson referring to his view that mathematics and logic are closed systems disguised tautologies and have no relation to the world of experience.90 David Fate Norton (1993) asserted that Hume was "the first post-sceptical philosopher of the early modern period".91 Hume's Problem of Induction was also of fundamental importance to the philosophy of Karl Popper. In his autobiography Unended Quest92 he wrote: "'Knowledge' ... is objective; and it is hypothetical or conjectural. This way of looking at the problem made it possible for me to reformulate Hume's problem of induction". This insight resulted in Popper's major work The Logic of Scientific Discovery.93 In his Conjectures and Refutations p 55 he writes: "I approached the problem of induction through Hume. Hume I felt was perfectly right in pointing out that induction cannot be logically justified". See also Hume Studies Age of reason Contributions to liberal theory Human science Hume's fork Hume's Law Hume's principle Liberalism The Missing Shade of Blue Scientific scepticism Further reading Ardal Pall (1966). Passion and Value in Hume's Treatise. Edinburgh Edinburgh University Press. Beauchamp Tom and Rosenberg Alexander Hume and the Problem of Causation New York Oxford University Press 1981. Ernest Campbell Mossner. The Life of David Hume. Oxford University Press 1980. (The standard biography.) Peter Millican. Critical Survey of the Literature on Hume and his First Enquiry. (Surveys around 250 books and articles on Hume and related topics.) Davidhume.org David Fate Norton. David Hume: Commonsense Moralist Skeptical Metaphysician. Princeton University Press 1978. Garrett Don (1996). Cognition and Commitment in Hume's Philosophy. New York & Oxford Oxford University Press. J.C.A. Gaskin. Hume's Philosophy of Religion. Humanities Press International 1978. Norman Kemp Smith.The Philosophy of David Hume. Macmillan 1941. (Still enormously valuable.) Frederick Rosen Classical Utilitarianism from Hume to Mill (Routledge Studies in Ethics & Moral Theory) 2003. ISBN 0-415-22094-7 Russell Paul (1995). Freedom and Moral Sentiment: Hume's Way of Naturalizing Responsibility. New York & Oxford Oxford University Press. Russell Paul (2008). The Riddle of Hume's Treatise: Skepticism Naturalism and Irreligion New York & Oxford Oxford University Press. Stroud B. (1977). Hume Routledge London & New York. (Complete study of Hume's work parting from the interpretation of Hume's naturalistic philosophical programme). Hesselberg A. Kenneth (1961). Hume Natural Law and Justice. Duquesne Review Gilles Deleuze Empirisme et subjectivit. Essai sur la Nature Humaine selon Hume (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France 1953) trans. Empiricism and Subjectivity (New York: Columbia University Press 1991) References Anderson R. F. (1966). Hume's First Principles University of Nebraska Press Lincoln. Ayer A. J. (1936). Language Truth and Logic. London. Bongie L. L. (1998) David Hume  Prophet of the Counter-Revolution. Liberty Fund Indianapolis Broackes Justin (1995). Hume David in Ted Honderich (ed.) The Oxford Companion to Philosophy New York Oxford University Press Daiches D. Jones P. Jones J. (eds )The Scottish Enlightenment: 17301790 A Hotbed of Genius The University of Edinburgh 1986. In paperback The Saltire Society 1996 ISBN 0-85411-069-0 Einstein A. (1915) Letter to Moritz Schlick Schwarzschild B. (trans. & ed.) in The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein vol. 8A R. Schulmann A. J. Fox J. Illy (eds.) Princeton University Press Princeton NJ (1998) p. 220. Flew A. (1986). David Hume: Philosopher of Moral Science Basil Blackwell Oxford. Fogelin R. J. (1993). Hume's scepticism. In Norton D. F. (ed.) (1993). The Cambridge Companion to Hume Cambridge University Press pp. 90116. Garfield Jay L. (1995) The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way Oxford University Press Giles J. (1993). "The No-Self Theory: Hume Buddhism and Personal Identity". Philosophy East and West 43 (2): 175200.  Giles J. (1997) No Self to be Found: The Search for Personal Identity University Press of America. Graham R. (2004). The Great Infidel  A Life of David Hume. John Donald Edinburgh. Harwood Sterling (1996). "Moral Sensibility Theories" in The Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Supplement) (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co.). Hume D. (EHU) (1777). An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding. Nidditch P. N. (ed.) 3rd. ed. (1975) Clarendon Press Oxford. Hume D. (1751). An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals. David Hume Essays Moral Political and Literary edited with preliminary dissertations and notes by T.H. Green and T.H. Grose 1:18. London: Longmans Green 1907. Hume D. (1740). A Treatise of Human Nature (1967 edition). Oxford University Press Oxford. Hume D. (17521758). Political Discourses Bilingual English-French (translated by Fabien Grandjean). Mauvezin France Trans-Europ-Repress 1993 22 cm V-260 p. Bibliographic notes index. Husserl E. (1970). The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology Carr D. (trans.) Northwestern University Press Evanston. Kolakowski L. (1968). The Alienation of Reason: A History of Positivist Thought Doubleday Garden City. Morris William Edward David Hume The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2001 Edition) Edward N. Zalta (ed.) Mossner Ernest Campbell (April 1950). "Philosophy and Biography: The Case of David Hume". The Philosophical Review 59 (2): 184201. doi:10.2307/2181501. JSTOR 2181501.  Norton D. F. (1993). Introduction to Hume's thought. In Norton D. F. (ed.) (1993). The Cambridge Companion to Hume Cambridge University Press pp. 132. O'Connor D. (2001). Routledge philosophy guidebook to Hume and religion Routledge London. Penelhum T. (1993). Hume's moral philosophy. In Norton D. F. (ed.) (1993). The Cambridge Companion to Hume Cambridge University Press pp. 117147. Phillipson N. (1989). Hume Weidenfeld & Nicolson London. Popkin Richard H. (1993) "Sources of Knowledge of Sextus Empiricus in Hume's Time" Journal of the History of Ideas Vol. 54 No. 1. (Jan. 1993) pp. 137141. Popkin R. & Stroll A. (1993) Philosophy. Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Ltd Oxford. Popper. K. (1960). Knowledge without authority. In Miller D. (ed.) (1983). Popper Oxford Fontana pp. 4657. Robinson Dave & Groves Judy (2003). Introducing Political Philosophy. Icon Books. ISBN 1-84046-450-X. Russell B. (1946). A History of Western Philosophy. London Allen and Unwin. Robbins Lionel (1998). A History of Economic Thought: The LSE Lectures. Edited by Steven G. Medema and Warren J. Samuels. Princeton University Press Princeton NJ. Spiegel Henry William(1991). The Growth of Economic Thought 3rd Ed. Durham: Duke University Press. Stroud B. (1977). Hume Routledge London & New York. Taylor A. E. (1927). David Hume and the Miraculous Leslie Stephen Lecture. Cambridge pp. 534. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: David Hume Wikisource has original works written by or about: David Hume Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: David Hume David Hume at the Online Library of Liberty Works by David Hume at Project Gutenberg Books by David Hume at the Online Books Page Works by or about David Hume in libraries (WorldCat catalog) David Hume resources including books articles and encyclopedia entries David Hume readable versions of the Treatise the two Enquiries the Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion and four essays David Hume entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy A Bibliography of Hume's Early Writings and Early Responses David Hume at the Open Directory Project Authority control: LCCN: n79054039 Footnotes Margaret Atherton ed. The Empiricists: Critical Essays on Locke Berkeley and Hume. Lanham MD: Rowman & Littlefield 1999. Paul Russel (May 17 2010). "Hume on Religion". First published October 4 2005. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2008 Edition). http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2008/entries/hume-religion. Retrieved 18 September 2010.  Fodor Jerry. Hume Variations. New York: Oxford University Press 2003 p. 134. Saintsbury George ed. Specimens of English Prose Style: From Malory to Macaulay. London: Macmillan & Co. 1907 p. 196. David Hume My Own Life. In Norton D. F. (ed.) (1993). The Cambridge Companion to Hume Cambridge University Press p. 351 In a letter to 'Jemmy' Birch quoted in Mossner E. C. (2001). The life of David Hume. Oxford University Press. p. 626 David Hume A Kind of History of My Life. In Norton D. F. (ed.) (1993). The Cambridge Companion to Hume Cambridge University Press p. 346 See Oliver A. Johnson The Mind of David Hume (University of Illinois Press 1995) pp. 89 for a useful presentation of varying interpretations of Hume's "scene of thought" remark a b Mossner 193 a b c David Hume A Kind of History of My Life. In Norton D. F. (ed.) (1993). The Cambridge Companion to Hume Cambridge University Press p. 352 Mossner 195 An Abstract of a Book lately Published; Entitled A Treatise of Human Nature &c. Wherein the Chief Argument of that Book is farther Illustrated and Explained (London 1740) Douglas Nobbs 'The Political Ideas of William Cleghorn Hume's Academic Rival' in Journal of the History of Ideas (1965) Vol. 26 No. 4: 575586 Grant Old and New Edinburgh in the 18th Century (Glasgow 1883) p. 7 David Hume The History of Great Britain (London 175456) p. 353 Sher Richard B. (2006). The Enlightenment & the book: Scottish authors & their publishers in eighteenth-century Britain Ireland & America. Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology Series. University of Chicago Press. pp. 313. ISBN 0226752526. http://books.google.com/idgB9liJb5o7UC&pgPA312&dq%22alexander+donaldson%22+bookstore&q.  David Hume (1776). My Own Life Russell 2008 O'Connor 2001 and Norton 1993 Mossner E. C. (2001). The life of David Hume. Oxford University Press. p. 206 Hume. D. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding "... the gradual progress of the Catholic superstition ..."; and On Superstition and Enthusiasm: "Modern Judaism and popery especially the latter being the most unphilosophical and absurd superstitions which have yet been known in the world ..." Hume D The Natural History of Religion "... our present experience concerning the principles and opinions of barbarous nations. The savage tribes of America Africa and Asia are all idolaters." Hume D Of Superstition and Enthusiasm: "the corruption of the best things produces the worsts is grown into a max im and is commonly proved among other instances by the pernicious effects of superstition and enthusiasm the corruptions of true religion." and "... all enthusiasts have been free from the yoke of ecclesiastics and have exprest great independence in their devotion with a contempt of forms ceremonies and traditions. The quakers are the most egregious tho at the same time the most innocent enthusiasts ... The independents of all the English sectaries approach nearest to the quakers in fanaticism and in their freedom from priestly bondage The presbytarians follow after at an equal distance in both these particulars ... Hume D The Natural History of Religion "... Where the deity is represented as infinitely superior to mankind this belief tho altogether just is apt ... to represent the monkish virtues of mortification penance humility and passive suffering as the only qualities which are acceptable to him. But where the gods are conceived to be only a little superior to mankind and to have been many of them advanced that inferior rank we are more at our ease in our addresses to them and may even without profaneness aspire sometimes to a rivalship and emulation of them." Mossner p. 265 Mossner Appendix H Boswell J. Boswell in Extremes 17761778 Mossner p. 591 David Hume A Treatise of Human Nature (New York: Dover 2003 edition) p. 7 Copplestone F. A history of Philosophy v. 6 2003 A. J. Ayer Language Truth and Logic (Penguin 2001 edition) pp. 40ff a b See e.g. Edward Craig The Mind of God and the Works of Man Ch.2 Galen Strawson The Secret Connexion (Oxford: Oxford University Press 1989) John Wright The Sceptical Realism of David Hume (Manchester: Manchester University Press 1983) John D. Kenyon 'Doubts about the Concept of Reason' in Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume Vol. 59 (1985) 249267 Hume D. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding p. 108 These are Hume's terms. It has been argued that in modern parlance demonstration is deductive reasoning and probability is inductive reasoning: see Dr. Peter J. R. Millican's. "Hume Induction and Probability". D.Phil thesis. http://www.davidhume.org/documents/1996PhD.pdf.  Hume D. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding p. 111 Hume D. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding p. 115 Harris Errol E. (2004). Hypothesis and Perception: The Roots of Scientific Method. Muirhead Library of Philosophy. 10. Psychology Press. p. 42. ISBN 9780415296151. http://books.google.com/booksiduBbfizzKTDoC&lpgPA42&pgPA42.  John D. Kenyon 'Doubts about the Concept of Reason' in Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume Vol. 59 (1985) p. 254 For this account of Hume's views on causation A. J. Ayer Language Truth and Logic (Penguin 2001 edition) pp. 4042 David Hume A Treatise of Human Nature (New York: Dover 2003 edition) p. 168 David Hume A Treatise of Human Nature (New York: Dover 2003 edition) p. 56 See S. Blackburn Hume and Thick Connexions' in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research Vol. 50 Supplement. (Autumn 1990) pp. 237250 Hume D. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding p. 147 fn.17 For this account of Hume on the self A. J. Ayer Language Truth and Logic (Penguin 2001 edition) pp. 1356 Edward Craig The Mind of God and the Works of Man Ch.2 James Giles No Self to be Found: the Search for Personal Identity University Press of America 1997. Giles James (1993). "The No-Self Theory: Hume Buddhism and Personal Identity". Philosophy East and West 43 (2): 175200.  Treatise p. 295 The metaphor of direction of fit in this sense has been traced back to Elizabeth Anscombe's work on intention: Intention (2nd Edition) (1963 Oxford: Basil Blackwell) a b M. Smith 'The Humean Theory of Motivation' Mind New Series Vol. 96 No. 381 (Jan. 1987) pp. 3661 S. Blackburn 'Practical Tortoise Raising' Mind New Series Vol. 104 No. 416 (Oct. 1995) pp. 695711 J. McDowell 'Non-Cognitivism and Rule-Following' in S. Holtzman and C. Leich Wittgenstein: To Follow A Rule (1981 London: Routledge & Kegan Paul) C. Korsgaard 'Scepticism about Practical Reason' The Journal of Philosophy Vol. 83 No. 1 (Jan. 1986) pp. 525 Treatise op. cit. p. 325 Adam Smith The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) ed. K. Haakonssen (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2002) For Hutcheson's influence on Hume see footnote 7. For his influence on Smith see William L. Taylor Francis Hutcheson and David Hume as Predecessors of Adam Smith (Durham: Duke University Press 1965) A. J. Ayer. Language Truth and Logic ch.6 C. L. Stevenson. Ethics and Language (1944) (Yale: Yale UP 1960) John Mackie. Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong (1977) (Penguin 1990) Simon Blackburn. Ruling Passions: A Theory of Practical Reasoning (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1998) Wise Choices Apt Feelings: A Theory of Normative Judgment (Harvard: Harvard UP 1990) "Compatibilism". Stanford Encyclopedia. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/compatibilism/#3.  Hume D. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding p. 148 Hume D. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding p. 149 a b Hume D. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding p. 159 Hume D. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding p. 161 See e.g. R. E. Hobart Free Will as Involving Determination and Inconceivable Without It' Mind 43 (1934) pp. 127 First published in 1962 and reprinted in Gary Watson ed. Free Will (Oxford: Oxford University Press 1982) pp. 5980; second edition 2003 Hume D (1748) 'Of miracles in An Enquiry concerning human understanding LA Selby-Bigge (ed.) 2nd edn Oxford University Press (1902) Section X pp. 116122 Hume D (1748) "An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding." in Modern Philosophy: An Anthology of Primary Sources (R. Ariew E. Watkins) Hackett 1998 Mackie J. L. The Miracle of Theism (Oxford: Oxford: University Press 1982) 29 Buckle Stephen Hume's Enlightenment Tract: The Unity and Purpose of An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (Oxford: Clarendon Press 2001) 26974 Laurence L. Bongie. "David Hume: Prophet of the Counter-revolution (1965)". The Online Library of Liberty. http://oll.libertyfund.org/optioncomstaticxt&staticfileshow.php%3Ftitle673&chapter159422&layouthtml&Itemid27. Retrieved 18 September 2010.  David Hume. "LETTER LXXXIV.: The Bath Waters injurious: Complaints of Injustice: Hume's Autobiography: Dialogues on Natural Religion. David Hume Letters of David Hume to William Strahan (1756)". Note 13. The Online Library of Liberty. http://oll.libertyfund.org/optioncomstaticxt&staticfileshow.php%3Ftitle652&chapter62199&layouthtml&Itemid27#lf1223footnotent841. Retrieved 18 September 2010.  Hume D. (1740). A Treatise of Human Nature (1817 edition p. 286) Quoted in Mossner EC. The life of David Hume 1954 reprinted 2001 OUP p. 311. Neil McArthur David Hume's political theory. University of Toronto 2007 pp.70 & 124. Adair Douglass (1957) That Politics Can be Reduced to a Science: David Hume James Madison and the Tenth Federalist. Huntington Library Quarterly 20: 343-360 Leslie Stephen History of English Thought in the Eighteenth Century 2 vols. (London: Smith Elder and Co. 1876) vol. 2 185 "Ida of a perfect Commonwealth". Library of Economics and Liberty. http://www.econlib.org/LIBRARY/LFBooks/Hume/hmMPL39.html. Retrieved 18 September 2010.  Robbins Lionel A History of Economic Thought: The LSE Lectures edited by Medema and Samuels. Ch 11 and 12 Hume David An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (1751) For this see the introduction by J. M. Keynes and P. Sraffa in: Hume David (1965). An abstract of A treatise of Human Nature 1740. Connecticut: Archon Books David Hume. "The History of England 6 vols. (1778)". Online Library of Liberty. http://oll.libertyfund.org/ToC/0011.php. Retrieved 18 September 2010.  William Crouch. "Which character is Hume in the "Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion". http://www.onphilosophy.co.uk/naturalreligion.html.  Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics Kant 'Preface' The World as Will and Representation Vol. 2 Ch. 46 A. J. Ayer (1936). Language Truth and Logic. London in a letter of December 14 1915 to Moritz Schlick (Papers A Vol. 8A Doc.165) Phillipson N. (1989). Hume Weidenfeld & Nicolson London Norton D. F. (ed.) (1993). The Cambridge Companion to Hume Cambridge University Press pp. 90116 Karl Popper: Unended Quest; An Intellectual Autobiography 1976 ISBN 0-415-28590-9 Karl Popper: The Logic of Scientific Discovery 1934 (as Logik der Forschung English translation 1959) ISBN 0-415-27844-9  Links to related articles v d eDavid Hume Books A Treatise of Human Nature  An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding  An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals  Essays Moral Political and Literary  Four Dissertations  Dialogues concerning Natural Religion  The History of England (The History of Great Britain) Criticism Argument for the existence of God from design  Problem of induction  Is-ought problem Philosophy Hume's principle  Hume's Law  Hume's Fork  The Missing Shade of Blue  "Of Miracles"  Scottish Enlightenment  Empiricism  Price specie flow mechanism v d eFigures in the Age of Enlightenment by country or region  Notable figures America (English) Benjamin Franklin  Thomas Jefferson  James Madison  Thomas Paine America (Latin) Simn Bolvar   Eugenio Espejo   Jos Joaqun Fernndez de Lizardi  Servando Teresa de Mier  Francisco de Miranda  Simn Rodrguez England Edward Gibbon  Thomas Hobbes   Samuel Johnson  Edmund Burke (Irish born)   John Locke   Isaac Newton   Robert Walpole France Montesquieu  Franois Quesnay  Voltaire  Buffon  Jean-Jacques Rousseau  Denis Diderot  Helvtius  Jean le Rond d'Alembert  Baron d'Holbach  Condorcet  tienne Bonnot de Condillac Germany Immanuel Kant  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing  Johann Gottfried von Herder  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe  Friedrich Schiller  Moses Mendelssohn Greece Adamantios Korais  Rigas Feraios  Theophilos Kairis  Eugenios Voulgaris Hungary Ferenc Kazinczy  Jzsef Krmn  Jnos Batsnyi  Mihly Fazekas Italy Cesare Beccaria  Antonio Genovesi Low Countries Hugo Grotius  Baruch Spinoza  Franciscus van den Enden Poland-Lithuania Stanisaw Konarski  Ignacy Krasicki  Hugo Kotaj  Stanisaw Staszic  Jan niadecki  Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz  Jdrzej niadecki Portugal Sebastio Jos de Carvalho e Melo 1st Marquess of Pombal Russia Mikhail Lomonosov  Ivan Shuvalov  Ivan Betskoy  Ekaterina Dashkova  Nikolay Novikov  Mikhail Shcherbatov  Alexander Radishchev Scandinavia Anders Chydenius  Peter Forsskl  Gustav III  Ludvig Holberg  Arvid Horn  Johan Henric Kellgren  Eggert lafsson   Henrik Gabriel Porthan  Jens Schielderup Sneedorff  Johann Friedrich Struensee  Emanuel Swedenborg Scotland Joseph Black  James Boswell  Robert Burns  Adam Ferguson  Francis Hutcheson  David Hume  James Hutton  Lord Kames  Lord Monboddo  James Macpherson  Thomas Reid  William Robertson  Adam Smith  Dugald Stewart  James Watt Serbia Dositej Obradovi Spain Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos  Benito Jernimo Feijoo  Antonio de Ulloa Ukraine Hryhorii Skovoroda  Ivan Kotlyarevsky  Related topics Atheism  Capitalism  Civil liberties  Counter-Enlightenment  Critical thinking  Deism  Democracy  Empiricism  Enlightened absolutism  Free markets  Haskalah  Humanism  Liberalism  Natural philosophy  Rationality  Reason  Sapere aude  Science  Socialism  Secularism  French Encyclopdistes  Weimar Classicism v d eClassical economists Francis Hutcheson  Bernard Mandeville  David Hume  Adam Smith  Jean-Baptiste Say  Thomas Malthus  James Mill  Francis Place  David Ricardo  Henry Thornton  John Ramsay McCulloch  James Maitland 8th Earl of Lauderdale  Jeremy Bentham  Jean Charles Lonard de Sismondi  Johann Heinrich von Thnen  John Stuart Mill  Henry Charles Carey  Nassau William Senior  Edward Gibbon Wakefield  John Rae  Frdric Bastiat  Thomas Tooke  Robert Torrens v d ePhilosophy Schools of thought Anarchism  Deism  Deontology  Dualism  Empiricism  Epiphenomenalism  Feminism  Functionalism  Hedonism  Hermeneutics  Humanism  Idealism  Materialism  Monism  Naturalism  Nihilism  Process  Solipsism  Rationalism  Realism  Relativism  Skepticism  Utilitarianism  more... 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Quine  Bertrand Russell   Ludwig Wittgenstein  Vienna Circle Portal  Category  Task Force  Stubs  Discussion v d ePhilosophy of religion Concepts in religion Afterlife  Euthyphro dilemma  Faith  Intelligent design  Miracle  Problem of evil  Religious belief  Soul  Spirit  Theodicy  Theological veto Theories of religion Acosmism  Agnosticism  Animism  Antireligion  Atheism  Dharmism  Deism  Divine command theory  Dualism  Esotericism  Exclusivism  Existentialism (Christian  Agnostic  Atheist)  Feminist theology  Fundamentalism  Gnosticism  Henotheism  Humanism (Religious  Secular  Christian)  Inclusivism  Monism  Monotheism  Mysticism  Naturalism (Metaphysical  Religious  Humanistic)  New Age  Nondualism  Nontheism  Pandeism  Pantheism  Perennialism  Polytheism  Process theology  Spiritualism  Shamanism  Taoic  Theism  Transcendentalism  more... 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Rowe  William Whewell  William Wollaston  more... Existence of the divine For Beauty  Christological  Consciousness  Cosmological  Degree  Desire  Experience  Love  Miracles  Morality  Ontological  Pascal's Wager  Proper basis  Reason  Teleological (Natural law)  Transcendental  Witness Against 747 Gambit  Atheist's Wager  Evil  Free will  Hell  Inconsistent revelations  Nonbelief  Noncognitivism  Occam's razor  Omnipotence  Poor design  Russell's teapot  Fate of the unlearned Related topics Criticism of religion  Exegesis  History of religions  Religion  Religious philosophy  Theology  Relationship between religion and science  Political science of religion  Faith and rationality  more... 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Theories of aesthetics Symbolism  Romanticism  Historicism  Classicism  Modernism  Postmodernism  Psychoanalytic theory  more... Philosophers of art Theodor W. Adorno  Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten  Arthur Schopenhauer  David Hume  Friedrich Nietzsche  Georg Hegel  Hans Urs von Balthasar  Immanuel Kant  Paul Klee  Jean-Franois Lyotard  Joseph Margolis  Martin Heidegger  Nelson Goodman  Richard Wollheim  Thierry de Duve  George Santayana  Hubert Dreyfus  John Dewey  Friedrich Schiller  Gyrgy Lukcs  Jacques Maritain  Bernard Bosanquet  Clive Bell  I. A. Richards  Jos Ortega y Gasset  R. G. Collingwood  David Prall  Dewitt H. Parker  Edward Bullough  Irving Singer  Roger Fry  Stephen Pepper  Susanne Langer  Theodor Lipps  Thomas Munro  Curt John Ducasse  Arthur Danto  more ... Portal  Category  Task Force  Stubs  Discussion Persondata Name Hume David Alternative names Short description Scottish philosopher economist and historian Date of birth 26 April 1711(1711-04-26) Place of birth Edinburgh Scotland Date of death 25 August 1776(1776-08-25) Place of death Edinburgh Scotland