A Treatise of Human Nature

Front Cover
Prometheus Books, 1992 - Law - 639 pages
Table of Contents Table of Contents PART 1: INTRODUCTORY MATERIAL How to Use this Book List of Abbreviations Editor's Introduction Hume's Early years and Education A Treatise of Human Nature Book 1: Of the Understanding Book 1 part 1: The Elements of the Mental World Book 1 Part 2: The Ideas of Space and Time Book 1 Part 3: Knowledge, Probability, Belief, and Causation Book 1 Part 4: Forms of Scepticism Book 2: Of the passions Book 2 Part 1: The Indirect Passions of Pride and Humility Book 2 Part 2: The Indirect Passions of Love and Hatred Book 2 part 3: The Direct Passions and the Will Book 3: Of Morals Book 3 Part 1: The Source of Moral Distinctions Book 3 Part 2: The Artificial Virtues Book 3 Part 3: Natural Virtues and Natural Abilities The Abstract and the Early Reception of the Treatise Supplementary Reading A Note on the Texts of this Edition PART 2: THE TEXT Advertisement Introduction Book 1: Of the Understanding Part 1: Of ideas, their origin, composition, connexion, abstraction, etc. Sect. 1: Of the origin of our ideas Sect. 2: Division of the subject Sect. 3: Of the ideas of the memory and imagination Sect. 4: Of the connexion of association of ideas Sect. 5. Of relations Sect. 6 Of modes and substances Sect. 7: Of abstract ideas Part 2: Of ideas of space and time Sect. 1: Of the infinite divisibility of our ideas of space andtime Sect. 2: Of the infinite divisibility of space and time Sect. 3. Of the other qualities of our ideas of space and time Sect. 4. Objections answered Sect. 5: The same subject continued Sect. 6: Of the idea of existence and of external existence Part 3: of knowledge and probability Sect. 1: Of knowledge Sect. 2. Of probability; and of the idea of cause and effect Sect. 3: Why a cause is always necessary Sect. 4: Of the component parts of our reasonings concerning cause and effect Sect. 5: Of the impressions of the senses and memory Section. 6: Of the inference from the impression to the idea Sect. 7: Of the nature of the idea or belief Sect. 8: Of the causes of belief Sect. 9: Of the effects of other relations and other habits Sect 10. Of the influence of belief Sect. 11: Of the probability of chances Sect. 12: Of the probability of causes Sect. 13: Of unphilosophical probability Sect. 14: Of the idea of necessary connexion Sect. 15: Rules by which to judge of causes and effects Sect. 16: Of the reason of animals Part 4: Of the sceptical and other systems of philosophy Sect. 1: Of scepticism with regard to reason Sect. 2: Of scepticism with regard to the senses Sect. 3. Of the ancient philosophy Sect 4. Of the modern philosophy Sect. 5: Of the immateriality of the soul Sect. 6: Of personal identity Sect. 7: Conclusion of this book Book 2: Of the Passions Part 1: Of pride and humility Sect. 1: Division of the subject Sect. 2: Of pride and humility; their objects and causes Sect. 3: Whence these objects and causes are derived Sect. 4: Of the relations of impressions and ideas Sect. 5: Of the influence of these relations on pride and humility Sect. 6: Limitations of this system Sect. 7: Of vice and virtue Sect. 8: Of beauty and deformity Sect. 9: Of external advantages and disadvantages Sect. 10: Of property and riches Sect. 11: Of the love of fame Sect. 12: Of the pride and humility of animals Part 2: Of love and hatred Sect. 1: Of the objects and causes of love and hatred Sect. 2: Experiments to confirm this system Sect. 3: Difficulties solved Sect. 4: Of the love of relations Sect. 5: Of our esteem for the rich and powerful Sect 6: Of benevolence and anger Sect. 7: Of compassion Sect. 8: Of malice and envy Sect. 9: Of the mixture of benevolence and anger with compassion and malice Sect. 10. Of respect and contempt Sect. 11: Of the amorous passion, or love betwixt the sexes Sect. 12: Of the love and hatred of animals Part 3: Of the will and direct passions Sect. 1: Of liberty and necessity Sect. 2: The same subject continued Sect. 3: Of the influencing motives of the will Sect. 4: Of the causes of the violent passions Sect. 5: Of the effects of custom Sect. Of the influence of the imagination on passions Sect. 7: Of contiguity and distance in space and time Sect. 8: The same subject continued Sect. 9: Of the direct passions Sect. 10: Of curiosity, or the love of truth Book 3: Of Morals Advertisement Part 1: Of virtue and vice in general Sect. 1: Moral distinctions not derived from reason Sect. 2: Moral distinctions derived from a moral sense Part 2: Of justice and injustice Sect. 1: Justice, whether a natural or artificial virtue? Sect. 2: Of the origin of justice and property Sect. 3: Of the rules, which determine property Sect. 4: Of the transference of property by consent Sect. 5: Of the obligation of promises Sect. 6: Some farther reflections concerning justice and injustice Sect. 7: Of the origin of government Sect. 8: Of the source of allegiance Sect. 9: Of the measures of allegiance Sect. 10: Of the objects of allegiance Sect. 11: Of the laws of nations Sect. 12: Of chastity and modesty Part 3: Of the other virtues and vices Sect. 1: Of the origin of the natural virtues and vices Sect. 2: Of greatness of mind Sect. 3. Of goodness and benevolence Sect. 4: Of natural abilities Sect. 5: Some farther reflections concerning the natural virtues Sect. 6: Conclusion of this book Appendix An Abstract of ... A Treatise of Human Nature PART 3 SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL Editors' Annotations Annotations to the Treatise Annotations to the Abstract Glossary References Index.

From inside the book

 

Contents

Of the ideas of space and time
26
Of the other qualities of our ideas of space and time
33
Objections answerd
39
Copyright

17 other sections not shown

Common terms and phrases

absurd actions allow'd appearance argument arises assert belief body causation cause and effect cerning colour common compos'd conceiv'd conceive conception concerning conclude conjoin'd consequently consider consider'd constant conjunction contiguity continu'd existence contrary cou'd custom degree deriv'd determin'd difference betwixt distinct distinguish encreases endeavour entirely equal establish'd examine experience explain'd external faculty fancy farther finite extension force and vivacity give hatred idea of extension identity imagination impressions and ideas indivisible inference infinite divisibility infinite number influence instances judgment kind manner matter memory mind motion never nexion objects observ'd observe operation opinion ourselves particular passions perceive perceptions perfectly person phænomenon philosophers plac'd pleasure present impression pride and humility principle probability proceed produc'd produce qualities reason reflexion relation relation of ideas resemblance right line sensation senses sensible shew shou'd simple ideas species substance superior suppos'd suppose tangible thing thought tion tis evident tis impossible transition twill wou'd

About the author (1992)

David Hume was born in Edinburgh to a minor Scottish noble family, raised at the estate of Ninewells, and attended the University of Edinburgh for two years until he was 15. Although his family wished him to study law, he found himself unsuited to this. He studied at home, tried business briefly, and after receiving a small inheritance traveled to France, settling at La Fleche, where Descartes had gone to school. There he completed his first and major philosophical work, A Treatise of Human Nature (1739--40), published in three volumes. Hume claimed on the title page that he was introducing the experimental method of reasoning into moral subjects, and further that he was offering a new way of seeing the limits of human knowledge. Although his work was largely ignored, Hume gained from it a reputation as a philosophical skeptic and an opponent of traditional religion. (In later years he was called "the great infidel.") This reputation led to his being rejected for professorships at both Edinburgh and Glasgow. To earn his living he served variously as the secretary to General St. Clair, as the attendant to the mad Marquis of Annandale, and as the keeper of the Advocates Library in Edinburgh. While holding these positions, he wrote and published a new version of his philosophy, the two Enquiries, and many essays on social, political, moral, and literary subjects. He also began his six-volume History of England from the Roman Invasion to the Glorious Revolution (1754--62), the work that made him most famous in his lifetime. Hume retired from public life and settled in Edinburgh, where he was the leading figure in Scottish letters and a good friend to many of the leading intellectuals of the time, including Adam Smith and Benjamin Franklin. During this period, he completed the Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, which he had been working on for more than 25 years. Hume first worked on the Dialogues in the middle of his career, but put them aside as too provocative. In his last years he finished them and they were published posthumously in 1779. They are probably his best literary effort and have been the basis for continuous discussion and debate among philosophers of religion. Toward the end of Hume's life, his philosophical work began to be taken seriously, and the skeptical problems he had raised were tackled by philosophers in Scotland, France, and finally Germany, where Kant claimed that Hume had awakened him from his dogmatic slumbers. Hume was one of the most influential philosophers of modern times, both as a positive force on skeptical and empirical thinkers and as a philosopher to be refuted by others. Interpreters are still arguing about whether he should be seen as a complete skeptic, a partial skeptic, a precursor of logical positivism, or even a secret believer.

Bibliographic information

TitleA Treatise of Human Nature
G - Reference,Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series
Great Books in Philosophy
AuthorDavid Hume
Editionillustrated, revised
PublisherPrometheus Books, 1992
ISBN0879757434, 9780879757434
Length639 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Law / Jurisprudence
Literary Collections / Essays
Philosophy / Epistemology
Philosophy / Ethics & Moral Philosophy
Philosophy / General
Philosophy / History & Surveys / General
Philosophy / Movements / Humanism
  
Export CitationBiBTeX EndNote RefMan