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  • Published: 1 April 1986
  • ISBN: 9780141904641
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 688

A Treatise of Human Nature

Being an Attempt to Introduce the Experimental Method of Reasoning Into Moral Subjects




Hume's masterpiece on human nature, attacking traditional religious thought

One of the most significant works of Western philosophy, Hume's Treatise was published in 1739-40, before he was thirty years old. A pinnacle of English empiricism, it is a comprehensive attempt to apply scientific methods of observation to a study of human nature, and a vigorous attack upon the principles of traditional metaphysical thought. With masterly eloquence, Hume denies the immortality of the soul and the reality of space; considers the manner in which we form concepts of identity, cause and effect; and speculates upon the nature of freedom, virtue and emotion. Opposed both to metaphysics and to rationalism, Hume's philosophy of informed scepticism sees man not as a religious creation, nor as a machine, but as a creature dominated by sentiment, passion and appetite.

  • Published: 1 April 1986
  • ISBN: 9780141904641
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 688

Other books in the series

A Dog's Heart
The Black Tulip
The Lady of the Camellias
Selected Poetry
On Sparta
Man and Superman
Saint Joan
Botchan
Kusamakura
Military Dispatches

About the author

David Hume

David Hume (1711-76) was born in Edinburgh and devoted himself to philosophy and literature from an early age. In 1739-40, he published his now highly regarded work, A Treatise of Human Nature. He worked as a tutor, judge advocate, librarian, diplomat and senior civil servant, as well as writing further works such as Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion and a six-volume History of England.

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