David Hume

7 May 1711 – 25 August 1776

A Scottish philosopher, historian and essayist, and a central figure of the Scottish Enlightenment. His A Treatise of Human Nature (1739–40) argued that all our ideas derive from experience and that reason alone cannot move us to act. Better known in his lifetime for his Essays and his six-volume History of England, he was twice refused a professorship because of his religious scepticism.

works

1739–40

A Treatise of Human Nature

A Treatise of Human Nature (1739–40) is a book by Scottish philosopher David Hume, considered by many to be Hume's most important work and one of the most influential works in the history of philosophy.

contents →

1741–42

Essays, Moral and Political

Hume's first collection of essays, in two volumes (1741, 1742).

contents →

1754–62

The History of England

Hume's history of England from the invasion of Julius Cæsar to the Revolution of 1688, written backwards: first the Stuarts (1754–57), then the Tudors (1759), then the earlier history from the Britons and Romans to…

contents →

1757

Four Dissertations

Four Dissertations is a collection of four essays by the Scottish enlightenment philosopher David Hume, first published in 1757.

contents →