A treatise of human nature

by David Hume

Other authorsPeter Harold [Bearb.] Nidditch

Paperback, 1978

Status

Available

Call number

CF 4604 T784

Genres

Collection

Wien

Publication

Oxford Clarendon Press 1978

Description

Philosophy. Nonfiction. HTML: A Treatise of Human Nature, first published between 1739 and 1740, is a philosophical text by the Scottish philosopher David Hume. The work contains three books: "Of the Understanding", "Of the Passions" and "Of Morals". Written by Hume when he was 26, it is considered by many to be Hume's best work and one of the most important books in philosophy's history..

User reviews

LibraryThing member dbancrof

You will immediately regret reading this book. It will keep you up at night -- your confidence for the first time shaken that the sun will rise in the morning. You will be disturbed to learn that your notion of self -- of a permanent personal identity -- is no more than an illusion bringing

together fleeting, rapidly changing perceptions. You will find yourself questioning everything you thought you knew about knowledge, causation, the immateriality of the soul, and the foundations of morality, as the author demolishes one dogma of his time (and ours) after another. But in the end, you will be rewarded by a well-deserved feeling of superiority over all the mere mortals who have not yet braved the impenetrable eighteenth-century prose of this masterful philosophical classic. It’s brain food at its best. Now eat up!

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LibraryThing member jpsnow

For Mr. Hume, everything begins with perception. Through memory perception drives what we feel and what we can know. These in turn provide the elements for human nature, morality, society, and individual behavior. In short, epistemology is driven by impression. Reason cannot give rise to an idea.

LibraryThing member Audacity88

At first I hated Hume because he made me depressed. But what he says is right, and Kant at least gives us a way to "make the best of a bad situation" (namely the fact that everything we see is only appearances), so looking back on Hume I appreciate his honesty. Certainly an immensely important book

and an essential one to read for anyone concerned with the nature of truth.

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