David Hume

David Hume (1711 – 1776)

David Hume, born in Scotland, was an influence upon many thinkers of the times, such as Gibbon, Adam Smith, Immanuel Kant and Diderot. He carried the mission and spirit of the Enlightenment into England. He attacked Christianity and condemned its miracles. He is considered as a historian as well. His non-theological approach to history enabled him to achieve a certain level of impartiality. Considering that the world as it is, is imperfect, he rejects the involvement of a divine designer.

Hume’s Views on Reason and Passion:

Hume questions the primacy of reason, and accepts the dominance of passion. But, he did not support Rousseau’s idea of social contract as the origin of government. He considers it illogical to construct an ethics based on the subservience of passions to reason.

Romanticism owes part of its revival to his questioning of the primacy of reason and the acceptance of the dominance of passion.

Main Works:

Enquiry concerning Human Understanding: Hume downplays the power of reason.

The Treatise of Human Nature (2 books):

Book 1: on the acquisition of knowledge. Based on the empiricism of Locke and Newton; however, he does not give too much importance to reasoning: “All our reasonings concerning cause and effect are derived from nothing but custom”.

Book 2: Elaborates the role of reason. The function of reason is to illuminate and co-ordinate desires.

An Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals (a modified version of The Treatise): An attack on miracles. Miracles can never be established through false evidences.

Dialogues concerning Natural Religion: “the adaptation of organs to purposes may have resulted not from divine guidance but from nature’s slow and bungling experiments through thousands of years”. (These words on natural selection anticipate Charles Darwin.)

The world is imperfect. Hence, there can’t be an involvement of a divine designer. (The analogy of drought and flood)

Political Discourses/ Essays and Treatises:

Wealth consists not of money but of commodities in circulation; the circulation of money should be in relation to the amount of goods in the market.

A low rate of interest is an index of flourishing trade.

Hume’s ideas in economics: David Hume contributed much to the principles of economics. Adam Smith, (the pioneer of political economy; ‘The Father of Economics’) was a friend of Hume.

Hume formulated general principles, and presented his arguments in a lucid way. He did not work out a system like Smith did. His prophesy that workers could gain advantage through collective bargain came true. Export means much more than a greedy craze for wealth. Since each nation has advantages of climate, soil, material and skill, the interchange of products would be beneficial to all countries.

David Hume, the historian: he showed how history could be approached from a non-theological perspective. Thus he was able to achieve a remarkable degree of impartiality. His history was not only of rulers, but of the culture of the times. His noted work: “History of England”

“The Students’ Hume” is an abridgement of “The History”.

Prepared by Jacob Eapen Kunnath

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