An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals

by David Hume

Overview

Morality--its source, whether it is objective or subjective, etc.--is a matter of fierce debate to this day. Hume aimed to settle the issue once and for all. Though David Hume did not succeed in doing that, he did succeed in making an important and early contribution to the subject.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781947844766
Publisher:	Suzeteo Enterprises
Publication date:	10/29/2018
Pages:	150
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.38(d)

About the Author

DAVID HUME was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on April 26, 1711. He entered the University of Edinburgh at the age of twelve but left a few years later without having been conferred a degree. Being a lifelong skeptic, Hume was taken with the French philosophers whose work was exemplary of the movement. In 1734, he made an intellec-tual pilgrimage to La Fleche, France, the town where Descartes had been educated. Three years later, this change of scene culminated in his book titled A Treatise of Human Nature.

After returning to England in 1737, the remainder of Hume's life was spent writing on psychology, morality, and politics. During this time, his bid for appointment as professor of ethics in Edinburgh proved unsuccessful because of his views on religion. From that point on, he was to undertake short-term positions of employment with powerful and influential people in the English government. These appointments included some travel to the Continent. From 1767 to 1768 he served as undersecretary of state for the northern depart-ment. Hume then returned to Edinburgh, where he died eight years later on August 25, 1776.

David Hume's works include: A Treatise of Human Nature (1739), Treatise--Of the Understanding (1739), Of the Passions (1740), An Abstract of a Treatise of Human Nature (1740), Essays Moral and Political (1741-1742), An Enquiry Concerning Human Understand-ing (1758), An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (1751), Political Discourses (1751), History of England (1754-1762), Four Dissertations (1757), and Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (published posthumously in 1779).

Table of Contents

I.	Of the Different Species of Philosophy	1
II.	Of the Origin of Ideas	8
III.	Of the Association of Ideas	12
IV.	Sceptical Doubts Concerning the Operations of the Understanding	14
V.	Sceptical Solution of These Doubts	24
VI.	Of Probability	35
VII.	Of the Idea of Necessary Connexion	37
VIII.	Of Liberty and Necessity	50
IX.	Of the Reason of Animals	66
X.	Of Miracles	70
XI.	Of a Particular Providence and of a Future State	85
XII.	Of the Academical or Sceptical Philosophy	96