David Hume
Philosopher · 1711-1776 · Philosophy, stage 3: Meet the thinkers
Pushed empiricism to its limits, arguing that even cause and effect is a habit of the mind rather than something we directly observe.
Overview
David Hume was a Scottish philosopher and historian whose empiricism went further than Locke's, questioning ideas most philosophers before him had taken for granted. He argued that we never actually observe one event causing another, only one event followed by another; our belief in cause and effect is a habit formed by repetition, not a truth reason can prove. The same skeptical method applied to the self, which Hume argued is not a single continuous thing we perceive but a bundle of related experiences the mind strings together. His Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding is a shorter, more readable rewrite of his earlier and denser Treatise of Human Nature, and it remains the standard entry point into his philosophy.
Where to start reading
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding 1748
A shorter, more accessible rewrite of Hume's earlier Treatise, covering his skeptical arguments about causation, induction, and human understanding.
A Treatise of Human Nature 1739-1740
Hume's first and most ambitious work, attempting a full empiricist account of the mind, covering understanding, the passions, and morals.
Part of
Sources
- David Hume Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Hume Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
