Hume: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding: And Other Writings (Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy)

Cambridge University Press, 10/26/2011
EAN 9780521604031, ISBN10: 0521604036

Paperback, 278 pages, 22.8 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English

David Hume's An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, first published in 1748, is a concise statement of Hume's central philosophical positions. It develops an account of human mental functioning which emphasizes the limits of human knowledge and the extent of our reliance on (non-rational) mental habits. It then applies that account to questions of free will and religious knowledge before closing with a defence of moderate scepticism. This volume, which presents a modified version of the definitive 1772 edition of the work, offers helpful annotation for the student reader, together with an introduction that sets this profoundly influential work in its philosophical and historical contexts. The volume also includes a selection of other works by Hume that throw light on both the circumstances of the work's genesis and its key themes and arguments.

1. Of the different species of philosophy
2. Of the origin of ideas
3. Of the association of ideas
4. Sceptical doubts concerning the operations of the understanding
5. Sceptical solution of these doubts
6. Of probability
7. Of the idea of necessary connexion
8. Of liberty and necessity
9. Of the reason of animals
10. Of miracles
11. Of a particular providence and of a future state
12. Of the academical or sceptical philosophy
A Letter from a Gentleman to his Friend in Edinburgh
The Sceptic
Of Suicide
Of the Immortality of the Soul
Thumbnail biographies (from The History of England)
Selections from Hume's letters
My Own Life.