The Essential Philosophical Works (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature)

David Hume

ISBN 10: 1840226668 / ISBN 13: 9781840226669

Published by Wordsworth Editions Ltd., 2011

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Essential Philosophical Works (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature)
• Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd.
• Publication Date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1840226668
• ISBN 13: 9781840226669
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

With an introduction by Charlotte R. Brown and William Edward Morris

David Hume (1711–1776) was the most important philosopher ever to write in English, as well as a master stylist. This volume contains his major philosophical works. A Treatise of Human Nature (1739–1740), published while Hume was still in his twenties, consists of three books on the understanding, the passions, and morals. It applies the experimental method of reasoning to human nature in a revolution that was intended to make Hume the Newton of the moral sciences. Disappointed with the Treatise’s failure to bring about such a revolution, Hume later recast Book I as An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding (1751), and Book III as An Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals, which he regarded as ‘incomparably the best’ of all his works. Both Enquiries went through several editions in his lifetime.

Hume’s works, controversial in his day, remain deeply and widely influential in ours, especially for his contributions to our understanding of the nature of morality, political and economic theory, philosophy of religion, and philosophical naturalism.

This volume also includes Hume’s anonymous Abstract of Books I and II of the Treatise, and the short autobiographical essay, ‘My Own Life’, which he wrote just before his death.

About the Author

David Hume (1711-1776) is one of the most important British philosophers, essayists, and historians of the eighteenth century. Hume's works, controversial in his day, remain deeply and widely influential in ours, especially for his contributions to our understanding of the nature of morality, political and economic theory, philosophy of religion, and philosophical naturalism.