Philosophical Works, v. 1 (of 4)
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~140,000 words · 652 passages
Cite this work
- APADavid Hume. (n.d.). Philosophical Works, v. 1 (of 4). Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/david-hume/philosophical-works-v-1-of-4
- MLADavid Hume. Philosophical Works, v. 1 (of 4). Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/david-hume/philosophical-works-v-1-of-4.
- ChicagoDavid Hume. Philosophical Works, v. 1 (of 4). Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/david-hume/philosophical-works-v-1-of-4.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
The first of the four volumes of Hume's philosophical works in the Green and Grose edition: the beginning of the 'Treatise of Human Nature'.
Context and history
The Green and Grose edition of 1874-75, in four volumes, of which the catalogue holds the first and second. These two contain the 'Treatise of Human Nature', which Hume published at twenty-eight and which, in his own words, 'fell dead-born from the press'. Everything is here: the thesis that all ideas come from impressions; the analysis of causation — we observe no necessary connection, only a constant conjunction which habit teaches us to expect; the attack on the notion of the self as a substance; and the distinction between is and ought, which has organised two centuries of moral argument. Volumes III and IV contain the essays and the 'Enquiries', the later and more readable restatement of the same, Those two volumes are not in the catalogue, but both Enquiries and the Essays are, as works of their own.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
allowed such an expression, than that perhaps of any other man I have ever known. Even in the lowest state of his fortune, his great and necessary frugality never hindered him from exercising, upon proper occasions, acts both of charity and generosity. It was a frugality founded, not upon avarice, but upon the love of independency. The extreme gentleness of his nature never weakened either the firmness of his mind, or the steadiness of his resolutions. His constant pleasantry was the genuine effusion of good nature and good humour, tempered with delicacy and modesty, and without even the slightest tincture of malignity, so frequently the disagreeable source of what is called wit in other men. It never was the meaning of his raillery to mortify; and therefore, far from offending, it seldom failed to please and delight, even those who were the objects of it. To his friends, who were frequently the objects of it, there was not perhaps any one of all his great and amiable qualities, which contributed more to endear his conversation. And that gaiety of temper, so agreeable in society, but which is so often accompanied with frivolous and superficial qualities, was in him certainly attended with the most severe application, the most extensive learning, the greatest depth of thought, and a capacity in every respect the most comprehensive. Upon the whole, I have always considered him, both in his lifetime and since his death, as approaching as nearly to the idea of a perfectly wise and virtuous man, as perhaps the nature of human frailty will permit. I ever am, dear Sir, Most affectionately yours, ADAM SMITH. THE LATTER-WILL AND TESTAMENT OF DAVID HUME.…