Page 190 - DENG502_PROSE

Prose Digvijay Pandya, Lovely Professional University

Notes
Unit 19: David Hume- Of Essay Writing: Introduction and
Detailed Study

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
19.1 Life and Works
19.2 As Historian of England
19.3 Problem of Miracles
19.4 Political and Economic Theory
19.5 Text—Of Essay Writing
19.6 Summary
19.7 Key-Words
19.8 Review Questions
19.9 Further Readings

Objectives

After reading this Unit students will be able to:
• Know about David Hume’s life and works
• Discuss Of Essay Writing by Hume

Introduction

David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, known especially for
his philosophical empiricism and skepticism. He was one of the most important figures in the
history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment. Hume is often grouped with John

Locke, George Berkeley, and a handful of others as a British Empiricist.
Beginning with his A Treatise of Human Nature (1739), Hume strove to create a total naturalistic
“science of man” that examined the psychological basis of human nature. In stark opposition to
the rationalists who preceded him, most notably Descartes, he concluded that desire rather than
reason governed human behavior, saying: “Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the
passions.” A prominent figure in the sceptical philosophical tradition and a strong empiricist, he
argued against the existence of innate ideas, concluding instead that humans have knowledge
only of things they directly experience. Thus he divides perceptions between strong and lively
“impressions” or direct sensations and fainter “ideas”, which are copied from impressions. He
developed the position that mental behaviour is governed by “custom”, that is acquired ability;
our use of induction, for example, is justified only by our idea of the “constant conjunction” of
causes and effects. Without direct impressions of a metaphysical “self”, he concluded that humans
have no actual conception of the self, only of a bundle of sensations associated with the self.
Hume advocated a compatibilist theory of free will that proved extremely influential on subsequent
moral philosophy. He was also a sentimentalist who held that ethics are based on feelings rather
than abstract moral principles. Hume also examined the normative is–ought problem. He held
notoriously ambiguous views of Christianity,but famously challenged the argument from design
in his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1777).

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