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David Hume, 1711-1776.

 Scottish philosopher, historian and economist, sociologist.

David Hume was one of the greatest philosophers in Western history, as well as an accomplished historian and economist.  Although the perennial skeptic, David Hume was, by all accounts, a rather good-natured fellow too. Despite lacking an academic perch, David Hume was arguably the most prominent figure of the Scottish Enlightenment (roughly dated 1740 to 1790) and a close friend of Adam Smith.  Hume's contributions to economics are found mostly in his Political Discourses (1752), which were incorporated in 1758 as part of his Essays Moral, Literary and Political.   

In his memoir of David Hume, Adam Smith would write:  "I have always considered him, both in lifetime and since his death, as approaching as nearly to the idea of a perfectly wise and virtuous man, as perhaps the nature of human frailty will admit" (Smith, 1776)Hume was certainly gifted - indeed, most of his ideas had been worked out by the time he was nineteen - but what Fortune bestows with one hand, it often takes away with the other. Born on April 26, 1711 in Edinburgh, Scotland, the second son of the lawyer Joseph Home and Katherine Falconer of Ninewells (an estate near Berwick-upon- Tweed). His father, a lawyer, died in 1713 and his mother raised him singlehandedly (Hume changed his name from "Home" to "Hume"  in 1731, when he perceived Englishmen having complications with the pronunciation of the Scottish "Home").

Hume enrolled at the university of Edinburgh in 1723 to study law (enrolling at twelve was not too astonishing in that century). In 1727, Hume met his distant relative Henry Home (future Lord Kames) who would become a life-long friend and mentor. However, philosophy and literature called and Hume withdrew from the university in 1729 and dedicated the next eight, long years, marred by illness, depression, frustration and mental breakdown, to the solitary study of that discipline and the construction of his formidable thesis - eventually laid out in his masterpiece A Treatise of Human Nature. Hume's project was complex enough: as the subtitle of his Treatise indicates, he sought to "introduce the experimental method of reasoning into moral subjects" - or, more simply, to introduce the scientific methods of the Enlightenment, of Newton and Bacon, to bear on five human subjects. These subjects were to be laid out in five volumes - I (Of the Understanding), II (Of the Passions), III (Of Morals), IV (Of Politics) and V (Of Criticism). 

In 1734, seeking respite and restoration (and a bit of money), David Hume went to Bristol, England, to learn the art of commerce.  He found work for a few months with a sugar merchant, but soon disappeared to France in the summer of 1734, settling down first at Rheims and then at La Flèche (near the celebrated Jesuit College of Anjou which Descartes had attended), where he set about writing the Treatise. Hume returned to London in the Fall of 1737 to finalize and oversee its publication. Of the envisaged five volumes of the Treatise of Human Nature, only the first three were published: in 1739 (Volumes I and II) and 1740 (Volume III). Hume was then twenty-nine years old. In 1739, while the book was being published, he returned to Scotland, staying with family in Ninewells and Edinburgh.

According to Hume, the anonymously-published Treatise "fell deadborn from the press, without reaching such distinction as even to excite a murmur among the zealots" (Hume, 1776). This was not exactly true: the zealots disliked it even although he had, in a fit of fright, pulled out his more contentious parts of his Treatise (such as the notorious essay on "Miracles") before publication.  Hume concluded that the tepid, if not hostile, reception to the Treatise was due merely to his mode of presentation as opposed to its content.  He re-worked the presentation of the arguments in the Treatise into more digestible forms  via two "explanatory" tracts: an Abstract lately published (1740) and A Letter from a Gentleman (1745), both directed to refuting the charges of the "zealots". (However, Hume would not put out another edition of the Treatise in his lifetime - indeed, there would be no reprints of it at all until 1818).

Hume had originally envisaged the Treatise as a five-volume work.  The first three, I (Of the Understanding), II (Of the Passions) and III (Of Morals), had appeared in 1739-40. The next two volumes, IV (Of Politics) and V (Of Criticism), never saw the light of day However, much of what he sought to write on these topics ended up in two collections of essays on various topics: Essays Moral and Political (1741-42) to which he later added Three Essays (1748).  These were, incidentally, the first publications to which Hume explicitly attached his name.

In February 1744, the chair in moral philosophy at the University of Edinburgh fell vacant with the resignation of John Pringle.  The university offered the chair to Frances Hutcheson (then at Glasgow), but Hutcheson declined.  So David Hume submitted his candidacy.  Appointments to the university were controlled by the Town Council of Edinburgh, which decided to consult several clergymen on Hume's credentials.  Conservative Presbyterian clerics found Hume "subversive" and suspiciously irreligious and objected.  William Wishart, the Principal of Edinburgh University, circulated a set of "dangerous" propositions found in the Treatise, to which Hume would reply point by point in his A Letter from a Gentleman (Mar 1745, addressed to Kames). But after months of wrangling, Hume's candidacy failed (the position went instead to Pringle's deputy and cleric, William Cleghorn).

In the aftermath of his defeat at the Edinburgh chair, in April, 1745, Hume found employment as the private tutor to the Marquis de Annandale.  Hume stayed at the marquis's estate of Weld Hall (near St. Alban's) for a year, but realizing the marquis was half-mad, and his estate manager a crook, Hume managed to eventually extricate himself from that situation.  In May 1746, Hume found new employment as assistant to the restless General James St. Clair. With St. Clair, Hume ended up in Brittany, France as Judge Advocate, the bizarre outcome of a hare-brained military expedition originally intended for Canada.  They returned to London in June, 1747.  The next year, Hume followed St. Clair on embassies to Vienna and Turin in February 1748. Hume returned to Britain by 1749, living in his brother's home in Ninewells, Dundee, for the next two years.

Hume had found time for his philosophical labors while under St. Clair, and during this period wrote two formidable enquiries, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, (published Apr, 1748) and an Enquiry into the Principles of Morals (published Nov, 1751). The first clarified his epistemological theory, originally presented in Vol. I of the Treatise, in a clear and accessible manner (and took this opportunity to incorporate his essay "Of Miracles").  The second enquiry did the same for his theory of ethics (which had been Vol. III of the Treatise).  He considered this second work "incomparably the best" of all the works he had written.

The Treatise (1739-40) and the both of the Enquiry (1748 & 1751) exposited Hume's basic outlook and his main contributions to the Scottish Enlightenment.  He section on morals disputed Hutcheson's theory of morals, which posited that man was endowed with an "innate moral sense"

The publication of Hume's essay "Of Miracles" in his 1748 Enquiry touched off a firestorm.  Hume posited that ancient miracles reported in the Holy Bible were as incredulous as miracles more recently reported by superstitious Catholic populations in Europe  At first it went largely unnoticed, but his old mentor Henry Home (Lord Kames) had been roused to write his own Essays on Morality in early 1751 disputing some points in Hume's theses on morals, religion and philosophy, that ended up giving Hume's works further publicity.   Conservative Presbyterian ministers were particularly incensed by the essay on miracles, and a flurry of articles and pamphlets began to appear in the Spring of 1751 attacking both Hume and  "Sopho" (Kames's pseudonym).

In the summer of 1751, Hume left England and finally moved permanently to Edinburgh.  At this time, Hume made another attempt at a university post - this time for the chair in moral philosophy at the University of Glasgow, which was coming vacant in November 1751 with the sudden fatal illness of John Craigie (Hutcheson's successor since 1746).   But this was at the height of the miracles controversy, so a confluence of clerical and conservative forces roused to thwart him again.   The publication of Hume's Enquiry on Morals in November 1751 did little to calm fears (although wisely Hume refrained from publishing his Dialogues on Natural Religion, which he had largely completed by this time).  Hume's good friend Adam Smith (then professor of logic at Glasgow) failed to support his candidacy, apparently out of timidity ("I should prefer David Hume to any man for a colleague; but I am afraid the public would not be of my opinion; and the interest of the society will oblige us to have some regard to the opinion of the public", Smith's letter to Cullen, Nov 1751). The  chair would ultimately be offered to Smith himself - or more precisely, Smith was transferred from logic to moral philosophy in early 1752, and Hume's bid was re-oriented to succeeding Smith in the vacated logic chair.  But it failed regardless (the logic chair ended up going to John Clow).

As consolation, in January, 1752, David Hume secured a position as librarian to the College of Advocates in Edinburgh. Although its emolument was relatively modest (£40 a year), the Library of Advocates was one of the larger libraries in Britain, boasting over thirty thousand volumes, and a gathering point for researchers and scholars of the Scottish Enlightenment.  That same year, Hume put another volume of essays, Political Discourses (Feb, 1752) which contain most of his contributions to economics.  The three collections of essays were eventually placed together in a single volume,  Essays: Moral, Political and Literary in 1758.  As it turns out, this was perhaps his best-received work.  Hume's conjectures on population were disputed by Robert Wallace in 1753.

As a librarian, Hume had much time and resources around him, so he set about writing his monumental six-volume History of England (1754-1762), initially published in reverse chronological order. This work was not a new and independent interest of Hume's - rather, he saw it as a continuation of his other work, a "practical application" of his theses on politics. The Essays and the History of England restored much of the reputation he had lost with the Treatise and its aftermath.

The controversy on miracles continued in the meantime, and conservative ministers launched an attempt to get both Hume and "Sopho" proscribed and excommunicated by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Kirk of Scotland in 1755.  But Kames and Hume had sufficient allies among the "Moderate" faction of the Kirk (led by William Robertson and other friends from the "Select Society") and the attempt failed by 1756. But perhaps Hume got too cocky. In  February 1757, Hume published his Four Dissertations, which included the famous essay on "the Natural History of Religion", lambasting Deistic "natural religion" (i.e. the then-popular idea that religion can be based on reason and not revelation), arguing instead that religious belief was very much a child of vulgar "superstition and enthusiasm". Hume was toying with fire now.  He pressed on nonetheless, completing his highly atheistic Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion and two essays, "Of Suicide" and "Of the Immortality of the Soul".  But sensing the trouble he was getting into, he suppressed these from publication. Nonetheless, he was pressured to resign his position in the Edinburgh library in 1757.

In October, 1763, Hume left the world of books and returned to the world of men, accompanying the British ambassador to France, Lord Hertford, as personal secretary. Hume's reputation preceded him and he was the toast of Enlightenment France.  Hume stayed two and a half years in Paris, in connection with the British embassy, even serving as charge d'affaires for several months in 1765.  In January, 1766, Hume returned to London  bringing along with him the much-persecuted Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Rousseau benefited tremendously from Hume's hospitality and protection in England, writing his famous Letters from the Mountain against his critics from Hume's home. But Rousseau's paranoia and bitterness eventually tried even the eternal patience of the good-natured Hume. When they broke in 1767, Hume felt compelled by the swirling rumor-mills to write a tract explaining exactly the cause of his quarrel with Rousseau.  

In February 1767, Hume was appointed Under-Secretary of State for the Northern Department (proto-foreign office), which he holds until 1768.  In 1769, rewarded with a state pension, Hume left London for Edinburgh where he would remain until his death. There he lived in philosophical semi-retirement, correcting his earlier works, entertaining his fellow intellectuals of the Scottish Enlightenment and Mrs. Anne Ord.

Hume fell ill in 1775.  After a brief sojourn for a cure in Bath, Hume knew the end was coming, and wrote a short autobiographical notice, My Own Life in 1776, wherein he acknowledged, for the first time, his authorship of the Treatise. Despite a rather prolonged, painful illness, David Hume died on April 26, 1776, at the age of sixty-five, a happy, confirmed atheist until the end (for an account of Hume's last days, see Adam Smith's Letter to Strahan and James Boswell's Journal). 

Before his death, Hume instructed Adam Smith to arrange for the publication of his long- suppressed two essays, "Of Suicide" and "Of the Immortality of the Soul" and his Dialogues concerning Natural Religion. The ever-timid Smith refused to go through with it and so did his publisher William Strahan. Finally, his nephew published them  in 1777,  the Two Essays and the Dialogues appearing without the author's name nor even the publisher's.

In his economic contributions, David Hume was an avowed liberal and a virulent anti-Mercantilist.  He was adamant that wealth was measured by the stock of commodities of a nation, not its stock of money.  He was also one of the better articulators of the Quantity Theory and the neutrality of money ("It is none of the wheels of trade: it is the oil which renders the motion of the wheels more smooth and easy", Of Money, 1752).  Contrary to the Mercantilists, Hume related low interest rates not to abundant money, but to booming commerce.  He was one of the first to spell out the "loanable funds" theory of interest, arguing that interest rates are determined by the demand for loans and the supply of saving.  Low interest rates are thus symptoms of a booming, commercial economy, where thrift and the desire for gain and accumulation take hold.  However, Hume admitted that in the short-run (and only the short-run), a rising supply of money could have a beneficial effect on industry.

Hume's most famous contributions are in international trade.  Contrary to the Mercantilists, he did not conceive of foreign trade as a zero-sum game but argued that there are mutual gains from trade.  Hume argued that the total volume of international trade is directly related to the diversity and wealth of all nations.  As he concludes, "I shall therefore venture to acknowledge that not only as a man, but as a British subject I pray for the flourishing commerce of Germany, Spain, Italy and even France itself." (Of the Jealousy of Trade, 1758).   

Hume also introduced the automatic "price-specie flow" mechanism and the "reflux principle".  Its basic argument was to deny the old Mercantilist policy proposition that the inflow of gold specie into a nation could be accomplished by manipulating the external trade balance.  Hume argued that the inflow of specie would, by his Quantity Theory, lead to a rise in domestic prices, thereby changing the terms of trade against the recipient nation.  The demand for its exports abroad would consequently decline, and its own demand for foreign imports would increase, thereby reversing the external trade balance so that specie now would flow back out.  Hume also used this logic to deny the idea that rises in prices can be blamed on rising wages. Specifically, if there was a wage-induced rise in the price level in England, the terms of trade between England and other nations would change in a manner detrimental to English exports and favorable to the imports from other nations.  This would thereby induce an outflow of money from England , and thus a reduction in England's money stock which would bring the price level in England back down. 

Hume's automatic flow mechanism of international trade lent credence to the idea that there was a "natural balance" of trade between nations which deliberate policy moves could not contradict. But Hume was not a believer of the "natural law" or "social contract" theories popular with contemporary political and social philosophers.  He was a thorough empiricist in both his political and philosophical work.  His hedonistic theory of morals served as a foundation of utilitarianism.  His theories of "evolution" of ethics, institutions and social conventions and were highly influential upon the Hayek and later evolutionary theories. 

Hume's essay on miracle would provoke William Paley's 1794 Views of the Evidences.

 

  


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Major Works of David Hume

  • [Anon] A Treatise of Human Nature, Being an attempt to introduce the experimental method of reasoning into moral subjects, 1739-40.
    • Volume I  - Of the Understanding (1739)  [McM, moa]
    • Volume II - Of the Passions (1739) [McM, moa]
    • Volume III  - Of Morals (1740) - [McM  moa]
    • Later editions: [1817 new ed, v.1. v.2], [1826 PW ed, v.1, v.2], [Green/Grose ed, 1874: v.1, v.2; 1878 v.1, v.2; 1882, v.1, v.2;  1898 v.1, v.2; 1909 v.1, v.2] [1888 Selby-Bigge ed], [1911 Everyman ed. v.1, v.2]
    • Online: McM, dho.
    • Audio:  [vox1, vox2]
    • German trans: [1790-91 (Jacob), Über die menschliche Natur, v.1, v.2, v.3]  [Lipps trans. 1895, v.1, av, 1906 v.2, av]
    • French trans: 1878 (Renouvier/Pillon), Psychologie de Hume, bk 1 only
  • [Anon] An Abstract of a Book Lately Published; entitutled a treatise on human nature, &c., wherein the chief argument of that book is farther illustrated and explained, 1740  [1938 ed. by J.M. Keynes and P. Sraffa, titled An abstract of a treatise on nature, 1740, a pamphlet hitherto unknown] [dho]
  • [Anon] Essays, Moral and Political, 1741 [bk]
    • "1. Of the Delicacy of Taste and Passion", p.1
    • "2. Of the Liberty of the Press" , p.9
    • "3. Of Impudence and Modesty", p.19 (suppressed in 1764 ed)
    • "4. That Politics may be reduced to a Science", p.27
    • "5. Of the First Principles of Government", p.49 [McM]
    • "6. Of Love and Marriage", p.59 (suppressed in 1764 ed)
    • "7. Of the Study of History" p.69 (suppressed in 1764 ed)
    • "8. Of the Independence of Parliament", p.79
    • "9. Whether the British Government inclines more to Absolute Monarchy or to a Republic", p.93
    • "10. Of Parties in General", p.105
    • "11. Of Parties of Great Britain", p.119
    • "12. Of Superstition and Enthusiasm", p.141
    • "13. Of Avarice", p.153 [suppressed in 1770 ed]
    • "14. Of the Dignity of Human Nature", p.161 [re-titled "Of the Dignity or Meanness of Human Nature" in 1770 ed.]
    • "15. Of Liberty and Despotism", p.173  [re-titled "Of Civil Liberty" in 1758 ed.]
    • Later Essay editions: 1741 (orig ed), 1742 (2nd. ed,), 1748 (3rd ed in EMP Pt 1), 1753 (4th ed in ETSS, v.1), 1758 (5th ed.in ETSS, Pt.1]), 1760 (6th ed. as ETSS, v.1), [dho]
    • (see Hume's Essays)
  • [Anon] Essays, Moral and Political volume II, 1742
    • "1. Of Essay-Writing" (suppressed in 1748 ed.) [moa]
    • "2. Of Eloquence"
    • "3. Of Moral Prejudices" (suppressed in 1748 ed)
    • "4. Of the Middle Station of Life" (suppressed in 1748 ed.)
    • "5. Of the Rise and Progress of Arts and Sciences"
    • "6. The Epicurean"
    • "7. The Stoic"
    • "8. The Platonist"
    • "9. The Skeptic"
    • "10. Of Polygamy and Divorces"
    • "11. Of Simplicity and Refinement in Writing"
    • "12. A Character of Sir Robert Walpole" (reduced to footnote in 1748 ed., suppressed in 1770 ed.)
    • (see Hume's Essays)
  • [Anon] "A Character of Sir Robert Walpole, taken from the Essays vol. 2 lately published", 1742, Scots Magazine (Jan), p.38; also 1742, Gentleman's Magazine, (Feb), p.82 (with Newcastle Journal remarks)
  • [Anon] "Queries and Answers relating to Sir Robert Walpole's Character", 1742, Scots Magazine (Mar), p.119
  • [Anon] A Letter from a Gentleman to His Friend in Edinburgh, containing some observations on a Specimen of principles concerning religion and morality, said to be maintain'd in a book lately publish'd, intituled a treatise on human nature, &c., 1745. [dho, sac-txt]  (letter to Kames, replying to William Wishart's allegations)
  • [Anon] A True Account of the behaviour and conduct of Archibald Stewart, late Lord Provost of Edinburgh, in a letter to a friend, 1748 [eeco]
  • [Anon] Three Essays, Moral and Political, never before published, which compleats the former edition in two volumes, 1748 
    • "1. Of National Characters" (= essay no.24 in 1748 EMP., 1753 ETSS, p.277 and Pt. I, no.24 of 1758 ETSS p.119 and thereafter)
    • "2. Of the Original Contract" (= essay no. 25 in 1748 EMP, 1753 ETSS, ed., p.301 and Pt. II, no.11 of 1758 ETSS, p.252 and thereafter)
    • "3. Of Passive Obedience" (= essay no. 26 in 1748 EMP, 1753 ETSS ed. p 327 and Pt. II no.12 of 1758 ETSS p.263  and thereafter).
    • (see Hume's Essays)
  • [Anon] Essays, Moral and Political, 1748 - one volume reprint of prior essay collections. 26 essays.
    • Essays 1-15 = all fifteen essays of 1741 Essays ("third edition")
    • Essays 16-23 = nine essays (2 and 5-11) of 1742 Essays vol. II (three essays withdrawn, a fourth one reduced to footnote)
    • Essays 24-26 = three essays of the 1748 Three essays.
    • (see Hume's Essays)
  • [Anon] Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding, 1748 [bk]
    • 1748 original ed., anonymous [bk] [note: Essay X - "Of Miracles", p.173]
    • 1751 2nd ed, signed "D. Hume", "with additions and corrections" [bk]
    • 1756 3rd ed. is vol.2. of ETSS
    • 1758 4th ed., re-titled "An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding" is part of 1758 ETSS, p.281, ct]
    • Later revised editions of Enquiry in ETSS: [1760 5th ed. v.3], [1764 6th ed. v.2] [1767 v.2] [1768.v.2], [1770 v.3], [1772 v.2], [1777 last ed]
    • [French 1758 trans. v.1, v.2; 1878 trans]
    • [German 1775 (Sulzer) trans, 1793 (Tenneman) trans, 1869 (Kirchmann) trans]
    • Other copies: [moa] [dho][audio:vox]
    • (see also Hume's Essays)
  • The Petition of the Grave and Venerable Bellmen (or Sextons) of the Church of Scotland, to the Hon. House of Commons, wr. 1751, unpub?
  • An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, 1751. [bk] [moa] [dho] (see also Hume's Essays)
  • Political Discourses, 1752 [2nd ed] [dho]
    • "1. Of Commerce ", p.1 [McM, lib]
    • "2. Of Luxury", p.23 (re-titled 1760 to "Of Refinement in the Arts") [McM]
    • "3. Of Money", p.41 [McM, lib]
    • "4. Of Interest", p.61 [McM, lib]
    • "5. Of the Balance of Trade", p.79 [McMlib]
    • "6. Of the Balance of Power", p.101
    • "7. Of Taxes", p.115 [McM, lib
    • "8. Of Public Credit", p.123 [McM, moa]
    • "9. Of Some Remarkable Customs", p.143
    • "10. Of the Populousness of Ancient Nations", p.155
    • "11. Of the Protestant Succession", p.263
    • "12. Idea of a Perfect Commonwealth", p.281
    • Editions: 1752 (original), 1752 (2nd ed), 1754 (3rd ed. in ETSS v.4), 1758 (4th ed. as ETSSPt.2]
    • [French translations: [1752-53 (Mlle de la Chaux) trans, repr. in E. Daire, ed., 1847, "Essais sur le Commerce &c.", Mélanges d'économie politique, v.1] [1754 (Abbé Le Blanc) trans, Discours Politiques, v.1, v.2; 1755 new ed.,  v.1, v.2], [1754 (M de M** = Mauvillon) trans, bk] [1888 (Formentin) trans, Oeuvre économique, bk]
    • (see Hume's Essays)
  • "Scotticisms", 1752, annexed to first 1752 ed. Political Discourses; but not later [repr. 1760, Scots Magazine, p.686] [1875 EMPL, v.2, p.461]
  • Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects, 1753-56 four volumes [v.1,  v.2, v.3, v.4]
    • v.1-(1753)  fourth ed. of Essays, Moral and Political, 26 essays, like in 1748 EPM ed.- essays 1-15 are fifteen essays from 1741 Essays, essays 16-23 are nine essays (2, 5-11) from 1742 Essays vol. 2 and essays 24-26 are 1748 Three Essays.
    • v.2 (1756) - third ed of 1748 Philosophical Essays concerning Human Understanding
    • v.3  (1753) -second ed. of 1751 Enquiry Concerning Principles on Morals, with two new appendices
      • "App. 1 - Concerning Moral Sentiment", p.199
      • "App. 2 - Some farther considerations with regard to Justice", p.215
    • v.4 (1754) - third ed. of 1752 Political Discourses (unchanged)
    • (see Hume's Essays)
  • The History of England, from the invasion of Julius Caesar to the Abdication of James II, 1688, 1754-1762. 
    • History of Great Britain v.1, containing the reigns of James I and Charles I, 1754 [1755 repr, 1759 2nd ed]
    • History of Great Britain v.2 containing the Commonwealth and the reigns of Charles II and James II, 1757 [1759 2nd ed]
    • History of England under the house of Tudor, comprehending the reigns of K. Henry VII, K. Henry VIII, Edward VI, Q. Mary and Q. Elizabeth, 1759, 2 vols. v.1, v.2
    • History of England from the invasion of Julius Caesar to the accession of Henry VII, 1762 2 vols, v.1, v.2
    • 1762 new ed (6 vols):  v.3, v.4
    • 1763 new ed, (8 vols): v.1, v.2,: v.3, v.7, v.8
    • 1767 new ed. (8 vols), v.1, v.2, v.3, v.4, v.5, v.6, v.7, v.8
    • 1782 new ed (8 vols) v.1, v.2, v.3, v.4, v.5, v.6, v.7, .v.8 (with Hume's last corrections)
    • 1856 ed.:  v.1 [moa], v.2 [moa], v.3 [moa], .v.4 [moa], v.5 [moa], v.6 [moa]]
    • 1983 LibertyClassics ed., v.1, v.2, v.3, v.4, v.5, v.6
    • [1873 abridged version, moa]
    • [French 13 vols]
  • Five Dissertations, to wit, the natural history of religion, of the passions, of tragedy, of suicide, of the immortality of the soul (undated and unpublished proof)
  • Four Dissertations. I. The Natural History of Religion, II. Of the Passions, III. Of Tragedy IV, of the Standard of Taste, 1757. [bk, av]
    • "1. The Natural History of Religion", p.1   [repr. in 1758 ETSS  p.491]  [moa]
    • "2. A Dissertation of the Passions", p.121 [repr. in 1758 ETSS p.376]
    • "3. Of Tragedy", p.185 [repr. as essay no. 25 of Part I in 1758 ETSS p.129]
    • "4. Of the Standard of Taste", p.203 [repr. as essay no. 26 of Part I in 1758 ETSS p.134]
    • (Undated manuscript, titled "Five Dissertations
    •  First Proof of the Above", titles this Five Dissertations and includes the fifth "Of Suicide")
    • [French 1759 trans of first dissertation [bk]; French 1759 trans. of last three essays [bk]]
    • [German 1760 trans [bk]]
    • (see Hume's Essays)
  • "Characters &c. of Douglas a Tragedy", 1757, Scots Magazine (Jun), p.239 (dedication letter to Joseph Home).
  • Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects, new edition, 1758, all in one volume [bk, dho]
    • Pt. 1 - Essays Moral, Political and Literary, Part I contains 26 essays: essays 1-15 (= all essays from 1741 Essays, fifth ed.), 16-23 (= essays 2, 5-11 of 1742 Essays Vol. 2), 24 (= essay 1  from 1748 Three Essays), 25-26 (= essay 3, 4 of Four Dissertations) [Pt.1]
    • Pt. 2 - Essays Moral, Political and Literary, Part II contains 14 essays: essays 1-12 (= all essays from 1752 Political Discourses, fourth ed), essays 13-14 (= essays 2,3 of 1748 Three Essays)  [Pt.2]
    • Pt. 3 - fourth ed. of 1748, now re-titled "Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, p.281 [ct]
    • Pt. 4 - second ed. of 1757 Dissertation on the Passions, p.376
    • Pt. 5 - third ed. of 1751 "Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals" p.395  [ct] (with appendices of 1753 ed)
    • Pt. 6 - A Dialogue, p.478 (new)
    • Pt. 7 - second edition of 1757 Natural History of Religion p.491
    • Plus two new essays to be inserted after printing:
    • (see Hume's Essays)
  • Revised editions of the Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects, following the 1758 restructuring (all continuously revised until 1777)
    • 1760 (four volumes)  [v.1, v.2, v.3, v.4]
      • v.1 = 26 essays (from 1741-42 etc., as arranged in 1758, Part 1)
      • v.2, = 16 essays (from 1752 etc., 14 essays as arranged in 1758 Part 2 plus the two 1758 inserted essays)
      • v.3 =  fifth ed. of 1748 Enq conc. Human Understanding + third ed. of 1757 Diss on Passions
      • v.4 =  fourth ed. of 1751 Enq on Morals + third ed. of 1757 Nat Hist Religion
    • 1764 (two volumes) [v.1, v.2]
      • v.1 = Part I contains 23 essays (three essays suppressed = 3,6 and 7 of 1741), Part II contains 16 essays (unchanged from 1760 v.2)
      • v.2 = sixth ed. of 1748 Enq conc Human Understanding + fourth ed of 1757 Diss on Passions + fifth ed of 1751 Enq on Morals (with new appendix III "Of some verbal disputes", (p.381) + fourth ed. of 1757 Nat Hist Religion.
    • 1767 (two volumes) [v.1, v.2] - straight reprint of 1767 (no revisions)
    • 1768 (two volumes) [v.1, v.2] - revised edition (but no structural changes)
    • 1770 (four volumes) [v.1, v.2, v.3, .v.4]
      • v.1  = 22 essays (from 1741-42 etc)., now suppresses one more essay (13 of 1741)
      • v.2  = 16 essays (from 1752 etc.),
      • v.3, =  new eds. of 1748 Enq conc. Human Understanding + 1757 Diss on Passions
      • v.4 = new eds. of 1751 Enq on Morals +  1757 Nat Hist Religion.
    • 1772 (two volumes): [v.1, v.2]
      • v.1,  = Part I  contains 22 essays, Part II contains 16 essays (structure unchanged from 1770)
      • v.2  = new eds. of Enq conc Human Understanding, Diss on Passions, Enq on Morals, Nat Hist Religion..
    • 1777 (two volumes) - last version revised by Hume. adds essay "On the Origin of Government" to v.1.
    • (see Hume's Essays)
  • "Art IV - The Epigonad, a poem", 1759, Critical Review (Apr), p.323 [1875 EMPL, v.2 p.425]
  • Exposé succinct de la Contestation qui s'est elevée entre M. Hume et Rousseau, avec les pieces justificatives, 1766 [bk] [English trans.  Concise and Genuine Account of the Dispute between Mr. Hume and Mr. Rousseau, 1766. [av, moa] [1826 PW, p.xxviii]
  • "My Own Life". 1776, pub. in Life of David Hume, written by himself, 1777 [bk] [1826 ed, 1875 ed, moa, dho]  [French 1777 trans bk]
  • The Latter-Will and Testament of David Hume, 1776 [moa] [1826 PW v.1, p.xxvii]
  • Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects 1777, (two volumes) - last version revised by Hume.
    • v.1 - Part I contains 23 essays (22 essays from 1772 plus one new essay, Part II contains 16 essay (same as in 1772)
      • "Of the Origin of Government" included in Part I of Essays [McM]
    • v.2 - new eds. of Enq conc Human Understanding, Diss on Passions, Enq on Morals (with intro to "Benevolence" moved to appendix "On Self Love"), Nat Hist Religion..
    • Copies: [dho1, dho2]
  • Two Essays, 1777 [bk] [1783 unauthorized ed identifies Hume] [1799 Basel ed] [dho] (incl. in Part III of 1825 ed. of Essays)
    • "Of Suicide", p.1 [moa]  (originally written c.1757, as part of unpublished Five Dissertations)
    • "Of the Immortality of the Soul", p.25 [moa]  (originally written c.1757, as part of unpublished Five Dissertations)
  • Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, 1779. [2nd ed] [moa] [dho][ms at dho][vox]
  • Posthumous editions of Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects (last revision was 1777)
  • The Philosophical Works of David Hume, 1824 [bk]
  • The Philosophical Works of David Hume,  1826 (Edinburgh ed).
    • v.1 (Treatise, Bk.1)
    • v.2 (Treatise Bks 2 & 3, Dialogues on Natural Religion)
    • v.3 (Essays)
    • v.4 (Both Enquiries, plus appendix, plus Natural History of Religion, additional (withdrawn) essays)  
    • [1854 American ed., v.1, v.2, v.3, v.4] [moa1, moa2, moa3,  
    • moa4]
  • []

 


HET

 

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Resources on David Hume

Contemporary

  • "Review of Treatise on Human Nature, v. 1 & 2", 1739, History of the Works of the Learned (Nov), p.353  (provoked the Abstract).
  • "Review of Treatise on Human Nature v.1 & 2", 1740, Bibliothèque raisonnée, (Apr-May-Jun), p.324
  • "Review of Treatise on Human Nature v.1 & 2", 1740 Nouvelle Bibliotheque (Jul), p.291
  • "Review of Treatise on Human Nature v. 3", 1741 Bibliothèque raisonnée, (Apr-May-Jun), p.411
  • Specimen of principles concerning religion and morality, said to be maintain'd in a book lately publish'd, intituled a treatise on human nature, &c., by Anon [William Wishart], 1745 (against Hume's candidacy in Edinburgh)
  • Ophiomaches, or Deism Revealed, by Anon [Philip Skelton], 1749 [av]  [1751 2nd ed, Deism Revealed, v.1, v.2], [1824 Works of Skelton ed, v.4] (Dial. 5 against Hume's essay on miracles)
  • "Hume on Miracles" by Rev. William Warburton, wr. 1749, unpublished [first pub. 1841, Warburton Works: v.13 - Selection from Unpublished Papers, p.311]
  • "Letter to Hume, written October 10, 1750" by James Oswald, in 1854 Selection from Family Papers preserved at Caldwell, Pt. 2, v.1, p.93 (criticism of Hume's balance of trade)
  • "Letter to Hume, c.March 1751" by Gilbert Elliot of Minto, 1751 [pub. in Dugald Stewart's Works, v.1, p.605]
  • The Credibility of Miracles Defended, against the author of the Philosophical Essays, in a discourse delivered at the primary visitation of Thomas Lord Bishop of Ely, by Rev. Thomas Rutherforth, 1751
  • An Essay on Mr Hume's Essay on Miracles by Rev. William Adams, 1752 [bk] [1754 2nd ed], [1767 3d ed], [1776 4th ed]  ["Review of Adams's Essay", 1752, Monthly Review, p.71]
  • Remarks on an essay concerning miracles, by Anthony Ellys, 1752
  • Cursory Animadversions upon a late Controversy concerning the Miraculous Powers, &c. by Anon [Ralph Heathcote], 1752 [bk]
  • "Review of Hume's Enquiry on the Principles of Morals" by Anon [William Rose], 1752, Monthly Review, v.6 (Jan), p.1
  • "Review of Hume's Political Discourses" by Anon [William Rose], 1752, Monthly Review, v.6: Pt. 1 (Jan), p.19, Pt.2 (Feb) p.81
  • "Notice of Hume's appointment to Library of Advocates", 1752, Scots Magazine, v.14 (Jan) p.54
  • A Delineation of the Nature and Obligations of Morality, with reflections on Mr. Hume's Inquiry concerning the Principles of Morals, by [James Balfour], 1753 [1763 2nd ed with "Appendix concerning the Office of Reason in Morals, and the Superiority of that Principle to Sentiment", bk]
  • An Estimate of the Profit and Loss of Religion, personally and publicly stated, illustrated with references to Essays on Morality and Natural Religion, by Anon [George Anderson], 1753 [bk] - critical of both Kames ("Sopho") and Hume. [review of Anderson in 1754 Monthly Review, v.10 (Mar), p.193]
  • A View of Principal Deistical Writers that have appeared in England in the last and present century, in several letters to a friend by Anon [John Leland], 1754 [bk], [1755 2nd ed. v.1, v.2; 1756 supp], [1757 3rd ed, v.1, v.2, v.3], [1764 4th ed, v.1, v.2, v.3], [1766 5th ed, v.1, v.2] [1808 ed, v.1, v.2],  [1837 ed]
  • The Criterion, or, Miracles Examined with a view to expose the pretensions of Pagans and Papists; to compare the miraculous powers recorded in the New Testament, with those said to subsist in later times, and to show the great and material difference between them in point of evidence: from whence it will appear that the former must be true, and the latter may be false. by Anon [John Douglas, future Bishop of Carlisle], 1754 [bk]
  • Edinburgh Review for the year 1755, 1755 [1818, 2nd ed]
  • An Analysis of the Moral and Religious Sentiments contained in the Writings of Sopho and David Hume Esq., addressed to the Rev and Hon Members of the General Assembly, by Anon [John Bonar], 1755 [bk] (condemning Kames & Hume)
  • Deist Stretched Upon a Death-Bed: or, a lively portraiture of a dying infidel, by Anon [Andrew Moir], 1755
  • Infidelity a Proper Object of Censure. wherein is shewn, the indispensable obligation that lies upon church-rulers to exercise the discipline instituted by Christ, upon such avowed Infidels as have been solemnly initiated members of the Christian Church by baptism, and if irreclaimable, to cast them out of Christian society, by Anon [Thomas Walker of Dundonald?], 1756 [bk] (urging excommunication of Hume & Kames)
  • Letters of Mr. Hume's History of Great Britain, by Anon [Daniel MacQueen] 1756 [bk]
  • "Review of Hume's Four Dissertations", 1757, Monthly Review, p.122
  • Remarks on Mr. David Hume's Essay on the Natural History of Religion, by Rev. William Warburton (fut. Bishop of Gloucester) and Richard Hurd (fut. Bishop of Worcester), 1757 [1777 2nd ed], [repr. in 1788 Works of Warburton, v.7 p.845]
  • "Mr Hume" by William Rider, 1762, An Historical and Critical Account of the Lives and Writings of the Living Authors of Great-Britain p.12
  • Letters, written in London, by an American Spy, by Anon, 1764 [reprinted 1785 as Two Letters to David Hume, by One of the People called Quakers, Containing a few cursory remarks on his philosophical essay]  [review in 1787, Monthly Review, p.541]
  • A Defence of Mr. Rousseau against the aspersions of Mr Hume, Mons. Voltaire and their associates, etc, by J.J. Rousseau, 1766 [bk]
  • Plaidoyer pour et contre J. J. Rousseau et le docteur D. Hume, l'historien anglais, aec des anecdotes intéressantes relatives au sujet, by Bergerat, 1768 [bk]
  • "Letter from Dr. B. Franklin to D. Hume, Esq. on the Method of securing Houses from the Effects of Lightning (Jan 24, 1762)", pub. 1771,  Essays and Observations, Physical and Literary, v.3, p.129
  • The Nature of Religious Zeal by John Briggs, 1775
  • Letter from Adam Smith, LLD, to Mr. Strahan, Esq on David Hume.  by Adam Smith, Nov 9, 1776 [bk] [moa]
  • "Letter from Adam Smith, LLD, to Mr. Strahan, Esq.", Nov 9, 1776, in Life of David Hume, 1777  p.37-62  [moa]  [1826 PW, v.1, p.xvi ][1875 EMPL, v.1, p.9]
  • A Letter to Adam Smith, LLD, on the life, death and philosophy of his friend David Hume, Esq., by "One of the people called Christians" [George Horne, Bishop  of Norwich], 1777 [bk; 2nd ed]
  • "Life of the celebrated David Hume", 1777, Gentleman's Magazine, p.120
  • "Strictures on the life of David Hume", by T. Cadell  1777, Gentleman's Magazine p.158 (with letter from Hurd)
  • Supplement to the Life of David Hume, Esq. containing genuine anecdotes, and a circumstantial account of his death and funeral, to which is added a certified copy of his last will and testament, by Anon [S.J. Pratt], 1777 [1789 new ed]
  • "Memoir of David Hume" by James Caulfield, Earl of Charlemont repr. in Francis Hardy, editor, 1810, Memoirs of the Political and Private Life of James, Earl of Charlemont, p.7
  • "Hume's Dialogues concerning Natural Religion", 1780, Monthly Review, v.61, p.343
  • Critical Observations concerning the Scottish Historians Hume, Stuart and Robertson, by Anon [Gilbert Stuart], 1782 [bk]
  • An Essay on the Immortality of the Soul, shewing the fallacy and malignity of a sceptical one, lately published, together with such another on suicide, both ascribed,by the editor, to the late David Hume, Esq. by Anon, 1784 [bk]
  • Anecdotes on Hume, written c.1800 by Alexander Carlyle, pub. in 1860, Autobiography of the Rev. Dr. Alexander Carlyle, minister of Inveresk, p.272
  • "The Life of David Hume, Esq.", by William Smellie, in 1800, Literary and Characteristical Lives, p.149

19th Century

  • Account of the Life and Writings of David Hume, by T.E. Ritchie, 1807 [bk]
  • Letters from a Late Eminent Prelate to one of his Friends, 1807 [1809 3rd ed, bk, av] - letters between Rev. William Warburton (Bishop of Gloucester) and Richard Hurd (Bishop of Worcester), often railing against Hume.
  • Private Correspondence of David Hume with several distinguished persons, between the years 1761 and 1776, 1820 [bk]
  • Letters of David Hume and extracts from letters referring to him, by Thomas Murray 1841 [bk]
  • Life and Correspondence of David Hume, by John Hill Burton, 1846, v.1, v.2
  • Letters of eminent persons addressed to David Hume, (ed. J.H. Burton), 1849 [bk]
  • "Notice sur D. Hume", E. Daire, ed., 1847, Mélanges d'économie politique, v.1 p.3
  • "David Hume, sa vie et ses ecrits, d'apres sa correspondence publiee a Edinbourg" by Chucheval-Clarigny, 1856, Revue des Deux Mondes (Nov), p.107-42
  • Questions on the Student's Hume: A History of England, for use of schools and teachers, 1866 [bk]
  • David Hume, precurseur d' Auguste Comte by E. Papillon, 1868
  • La Philosophie de David Hume, by Gabriel Compayré, 1872 [bk]
  • "History of the Editions" by T.H. Grose, in T.H. Green and T.H. Grose, editors, 1875, Essays Moral, Political and Literary, v.1, p.15, including "List of the editions", p.85
  • "David Hume" by James McCosh, 1875 in Scottish Philosophy, p.113 [McM]
  • Hume by Thomas H. Huxley, 1879 [bk] [1902 repr][French 1880 trans., bk]
  • "David Hume", in J. Irving, 1881, Book of Scotsmen.
  • Hume by William Knight, 1886 [bk]
  • "Introduction" by Leon Say, 1888 in Formentin, David Hume: Oeuvre économique, p.i
  • "Smith und Hume", by Sigmund Feilbogen, 1890 ZfGS, p.695
  • "David Hume" by G.W.F. Hegel, 1892, Lectures on the History of Philosophy [mia]
  • "David Hume" by Alfred Weber, 1896, History of Philosophy, p.417
  • David Hume: moraliste et sociologue by Georges Lechartier, 1900 [bk]
  • Die volkswirtschaftlichen Anschauungen David Hume's by Max Klemmer, 1900 [bk]
  • L'oeuvre économique de David Hume, by Albert Schatz, 1902 [bk]
  • Hume: The relation of the Treatise of Human Nature - Book I to the Inquiry concerning Human Understanding, by W.B. Elkin, 1904 [bk]
  • "Hume's Essay on Miracles", in H.F. Henderson, 1905, Religious Controversies in Scotland, p.44
  • Hume' s Place in Ethics by Edna A. Shearer, 1915 [bk]

Modern

 

 
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