“Hume is our Politics, Hume is our Trade, Hume is our Philosophy, Hume is our Religion.”
1. Life
David Hume was born in 1711 to a moderately wealthy family from Berwickshire Scotland, near Edinburgh. His background was politically Whiggish and religiously Calvinistic. As a child he faithfully attended the local Church of Scotland, pastored by his uncle. Hume was educated by his widowed mother until he left for the University of Edinburgh at the age of eleven. His letters describe how as a young student he took religion seriously and obediently followed a list of moral guidelines taken from The Whole Duty of Man, a popular Calvinistic devotional.
Leaving the University of Edinburgh around the age of fifteen to pursue his education privately, he was encouraged to consider a career in law, but his interests soon turned to philosophy. During these years of private study he began raising serious questions about religion, as he recounts in the following letter:
Tis not long ago that I burn’d an old Manuscript Book, wrote before I was twenty; which contain’d, Page after Page, the gradual Progress of my Thoughts on that head [i.e. religious belief]. It begun with an anxious Search after Arguments, to confirm the common Opinion: Doubts stole in, dissipated, return’d, were again dissipated, return’d again [To Gilbert Elliot of Minto, March 10, 1751].
Although his manuscript book was destroyed, several pages of his study notes survive from his early twenties. These show a preoccupation with proofs for God’s existence as well as atheism, particularly as he read on these topics in classical Greek and Latin texts and in Pierre Bayle’s skeptical Historical and Critical Dictionary. During these years of private study, some of which were in France, he composed his three-volume Treatise of Human Nature, which was published anonymously in two installments before he was thirty (1739, 1740). The Treatise explores several philosophical topics such as space, time, causality, external objects, the passions, free will, and morality, offering original and often skeptical appraisals of these notions. Book I of the Treatise was unfavorably reviewed in the History of the Works of the Learned with a succession of sarcastic comments. Although scholars today recognized it as a philosophical masterpiece, Hume was disappointed with the minimal interest his book spawned and said that “It fell dead-born from the press, without reaching such distinctions even to excite a murmur among the zealots” (My Own Life).
In 1741 and 1742 Hume published his two-volume Essays, Moral and Political, which were written in a popular style and were more successful than the Treatise. In 1744-1745 he was a candidate for the Chair of Moral Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. The Edinburgh Town Council was responsible for electing a replacement, and critics opposed Hume by condemning his anti-religious writings. Chief among the critics was clergyman William Wishart (d. 1752), the Principal of the University of Edinburgh. Lists of allegedly dangerous propositions from Hume’s Treatise circulated, presumably penned by Wishart himself. In the face of such strong opposition, the Edinburgh Town Council consulted the Edinburgh ministers. Hoping to win over the clergy, Hume composed a point by point reply to the circulating lists of dangerous propositions, which was published as A Letter from a Gentleman to his Friend in Edinburgh. The clergy were not swayed, 12 of the 15 ministers voted against Hume, and he quickly withdrew his candidacy. In 1745 Hume accepted an invitation from General St Clair to attend him as secretary. He wore the uniform of an officer, and accompanied the general on an expedition against Canada (which ended in an incursion on the coast of France) and to an embassy post in the courts of Vienna and Turin.
Because of the success of his Essays, Hume was convinced that the poor reception of his Treatise was caused by its style rather than by its content. In 1748 he published his Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, a more popular rendition of portions of Book I of the Treatise. The Enquiry also includes two sections not found in the Treatise: “Of Miracles” and a dialogue titled “Of a Particular Providence and of a Future State.” Each section contains direct attacks on religious belief. In 1751 he published his Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, which recasts parts of Book III of the Treatise in a very different form. The work establishes a system of morality upon utility and human sentiments alone, and without appeal to divine moral commands. By the end of the century Hume was recognized as the founder of the moral theory of utility, and utilitarian political theorist Jeremy Bentham acknowledged Hume’s direct influence upon him. The same year Hume also published his Political Discourses, which drew immediate praise and influenced economic thinkers such as Adam Smith, William Godwin, and Thomas Malthus.
In 1751-1752 Hume sought a philosophy chair at the University of Glasgow, and was again unsuccessful. In 1752 his new employment as librarian of the Advocate’s Library in Edinburgh provided him with the resources to pursue his interest in history. There, he wrote much of his highly successful six-volume History of England (published from 1754 to 1762). The first volume was unfavorably received, partially for its defense of Charles I, and partially for two sections which attack Christianity. In one passage Hume notes that the first Protestant reformers were fanatical or “inflamed with the highest enthusiasm” in their opposition to Roman Catholic domination. In the second passage he labels Roman Catholicism a superstition which “like all other species of superstition. . . rouses the vain fears of unhappy mortals.” The most vocal attack against Hume’s History came from Daniel MacQueen in his 300 page Letters on Mr. Hume’s History. MacQueen scrutinizes the first volume of Hume’s work, exposing all the allegedly “loose and irreligious sneers” Hume makes against Christianity. Ultimately, this negative response led Hume to delete the two controversial passages from succeeding editions of the History.
Around this time Hume also wrote his two most substantial works on religion: The Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion and The Natural History of Religion. The Natural History appeared in 1757, but, on the advice of friends who wished to steer Hume away from religious controversy, the Dialogues remained unpublished until 1779, three years after his death. The Natural History aroused controversy even before it was made public. In 1756 a volume of Hume’s essays titled Five Dissertations was printed and ready for distribution. The essays included (1) “The Natural History of Religion;” (2) “Of the Passions;” (3) “Of Tragedy;” (4) “Of Suicide;” and (5) “Of the Immortality of the Soul.” The latter two essays made direct attacks on common religious doctrines by defending a person’s moral right to commit suicide and by criticizing the idea of life after death. Early copies were passed around, and Hume’s publisher was threatened with prosecution if the book was distributed as it was. The printed copies of Five Dissertations were then physically altered by removing the essays on suicide and immortality, and inserting a new essay “Of the Standard of Taste” in their place. Hume also took this opportunity to alter two particularly offending paragraphs in the Natural History. The essays were then bound with the new title Four Dissertations and distributed in January, 1757.
In the years following Four Dissertations, Hume completed his last major literary work, The History of England, which gave him a reputation as an historian that equaled, if not overshadowed, his reputation as a philosopher. In 1763, at age 50, he was invited to accompany the Earl of Hertford to the embassy in Paris, with a near prospect of being his secretary. He eventually accepted, and remarks at the reception he received in Paris “from men and women of all ranks and stations.” He returned to Edinburgh in 1766, and continued developing relations with the greatest minds of the time. Among these was Jean Jacques Rousseau who in 1766 was ordered out of Switzerland by the government in Berne. Hume offered Rousseau refuge in England and secured him a government pension. In England, Rousseau became suspicious of plots, and publicly charged Hume with conspiring to ruin his character, under the appearance of helping him. Hume published a pamphlet defending his actions and was exonerated. Another secretary appointment took him away from 1767-1768. Returning again to Edinburgh, his remaining years were spent revising and refining his published works, and socializing with friends in Edinburgh’s intellectual circles. In 1770, fellow Scotsman James Beattie published one of the harshest attacks on Hume’s philosophy to ever appear in print, entitled An Essay on the Nature and Immutability of Truth in Opposition to Sophistry and Scepticism. Hume was upset by Beattie’s relentless verbal attacks against him in the work, but the book made Beattie famous and King George III, who admired it, awarded Beattie a pension of £200 per year.
In 1776, at age sixty-five, Hume died from an internal disorder which had plagued him for many months. After his death, his name took on new significance as several of his previously unpublished works appeared. The first was a brief autobiography, My Own Life, but even this unpretentious work aroused controversy. As his friends, Adam Smith and S.J. Pratt, published affectionate eulogies describing how he died with no concern for an afterlife, religious critics responded by condemning this unjustifiable admiration of Hume’s infidelity. Two years later, in 1779, Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion appeared. Again, the response was mixed. Admirers of Hume considered it a masterfully written work, while religious crit
"ฮูมเป็นเมืองของเรา ฮูมเป็นค้าของเรา ฮูมเป็นปรัชญา ฮูมเป็นศาสนาของเรา"1. ชีวิตฮูม David เกิดใน 1711 ครอบครัวปานกลางรวยจากสกอตแลนด์ Berwickshire ใกล้เอดินเบอระ พื้นหลังของเขาถูกทางการเมือง Whiggish และเคร่งครัด Calvinistic เป็นเด็ก เขา faithfully ร่วมภายในโบสถ์ของสกอตแลนด์ pastored โดยลุงของเขา ฮูมถูกศึกษา โดยแม่ของเขาบรรทัดจนกว่าเขาทิ้งสำหรับมหาวิทยาลัยเอดินบะระอายุ 43 ตัวอักษรของเขาอธิบายว่า เป็นนักเรียนหนุ่มเขาเอา ศาสนาอย่างจริงจัง และทรงตามรายการของแนวทางคุณธรรมที่นำมาจากทั้งหมดหน้าที่ของมนุษย์ devotional Calvinistic นิยมออกจากมหาวิทยาลัยเอดินบะระสถานอายุ fifteen ไล่ศึกษาเอกชน เขาให้พิจารณาอาชีพกฎหมาย แต่สนใจเขาเร็ว ๆ นี้กลายเป็นปรัชญา ในช่วงปีการศึกษาส่วนตัวเหล่านี้ เขาเริ่มเพิ่มเกี่ยวกับศาสนา เป็นเขา recounts ในจดหมายต่อไปนี้:มอก.ไม่นานที่เขียนได้มีหนังสือฉบับเก่า เขียนก่อนผมประมาณ 20 ซึ่ง contain'd หน้าหลังหน้า gradual ความคืบหน้าของความคิดของฉันหัวที่ [เช่นศาสนา] เริ่มต้น ด้วยการค้นหากังวลหลังจากอาร์กิวเมนต์ ยืนยันความเห็นทั่วไป: ข้อสงสัยขโมย dissipated เที่ยวกลับ มี dissipated อีก จะกลับอีกครั้ง [กับกิลเบิร์ตเอลเลียตของวเดนท์ 10 มีนาคม 1751]แต่ฉบับหนังสือของเขาถูกทำลาย หลาย ๆ บันทึกศึกษาพระรอดจากยี่ของเขาก่อน เหล่านี้แสดง preoccupation กับหลักฐานของพระเจ้าดำรงอยู่เป็นอเทวนิยม โดยเฉพาะอย่างยิ่งเมื่อเขาอ่านหัวข้อเหล่านี้ ในข้อความภาษากรีกและละตินคลาสสิก และ Pierre เบย์เล่แคลงใจประวัติศาสตร์และพจนานุกรมสำคัญ ในช่วงปีนี้การเรียนส่วนตัว ซึ่งอยู่ในฝรั่งเศส เขาประกอบด้วยเขาสามเสียงธรรมศาสตร์บุคคลธรรมชาติ ซึ่งถูกตีพิมพ์โดยไม่ระบุชื่อในสองงวดก่อนเขาสามสิบ (1739 พัก 1740) ตำรับสำรวจหัวข้อปรัชญาหลายพื้นที่ เวลา causality วัตถุภายนอก หลงใหล จะ และ ศีลธรรม ให้บริการเดิม และมักจะสงสัยการประเมินผลของความเข้าใจเหล่านี้ หนังสือพระธรรมศาสตร์ unfavorably ถูกทบทวนในประวัติของงานได้เรียนรู้การสืบทอดของเห็นแดกดัน แม้ว่านักวิชาการวันนี้ยอมรับว่าเป็นผลงานชิ้นเอกปรัชญา ฮูมไม่ผิดหวัง มีความสนใจน้อยที่สุดของเขาเกิด และกล่าวว่า "มันตกตายเกิดจากกด ไม่ถึงข้อแตกต่างดังกล่าวแม้จะกระตุ้นเมอร์เมอร์ระหว่าง zealots" (ชีวิตของฉันเอง)1741 และ 1742 ฮูมประกาศเขาสองเสียงเรียง ศีลธรรม และการ เมือง ซึ่งเขียนในรูปแบบที่นิยม และประสบความสำเร็จกว่าธรรมศาสตร์ ใน 1744-1745 เขาต้องการเก้าอี้ของศีลธรรมปรัชญาที่มหาวิทยาลัยเอดินบะระ สภาเมืองเอดินบะระคือชอบ electing แทน และนักวิจารณ์ข้ามฮูม โดยประณามการใช้งานเขียนของเขาต่อต้านศาสนา หัวหน้าในหมู่นักวิจารณ์มี clergyman William Wishart (d. 1752), หลักของมหาวิทยาลัยเอดินบะระ รายการของขั้นอันตรายหลังจากตำรับของฮูมหมุนเวียนไป สันนิษฐานว่าเขียน โดย Wishart เอง หน้าฝ่ายค้านที่แข็งแกร่งดังกล่าว สภาเมืองเอดินบะระรับคำแนะนำของรัฐมนตรีเอดินบะระ หวังที่จะชนะเคลอจี ฮูมประกอบจุดโดยจุดตอบกลับขั้นอันตราย รายการหมุนเวียนซึ่งถูกตีพิมพ์เป็นอักษร A จากสุภาพบุรุษเพื่อนของเขาในเอดินเบอระ เคลอจีถูกไม่ swayed, 12 ของรัฐมนตรี 15 โหวตกับฮูม และเขาต้องถอน candidacy ของเขาอย่างรวดเร็ว ใน 1745 ฮูมยอมรับการเชิญจากทั่วไปเซนต์แคลร์เข้าร่วมเขาเป็นเลขานุการ เขาสวมเครื่องแบบของเจ้าหน้าที่ และมาพร้อมกับทั่วไปในการเดินทางกับประเทศแคนาดา (ซึ่งสิ้นสุดในการบุกรุกบนชายฝั่งของฝรั่งเศส) และ จะมีประกาศสถานเอกอัครราชทูตในศาลของเวียนนาและตูรินเนื่องจากความสำเร็จของบทความของเขา ฮูมได้มั่นใจว่า ต้อนรับดีตำรับเขาเกิดสไตล์การ แทนเนื้อหาของ 1748 เขาประกาศเขาถามเกี่ยวกับมนุษย์เข้าใจ rendition นิยมมากขึ้นของบางส่วนของหนังสือพระธรรมศาสตร์ คำถามที่มีสองส่วนที่ไม่พบในตำรับ: "ของอัศจรรย์" และชื่อ "ของจัดเตรียมเฉพาะ และ รัฐในอนาคต" การพูดคุยกัน แต่ละส่วนประกอบด้วยโจมตีศาสนาโดยตรง ใน 1751 เขาเผยแพร่เขาถามเกี่ยวกับหลักของศีลธรรม ที่ recasts ส่วนของจอง III ของธรรมศาสตร์ในรูปแบบที่แตกต่างกันมาก งานสร้างระบบศีลธรรมยูทิลิตี้และมนุษย์รู้สึกเพียงอย่างเดียว และไม่ มีการอุทธรณ์คำสั่งทางศีลธรรมของพระ ช่วงปลายศตวรรษฮูมได้รับรู้เป็นผู้ก่อตั้งทฤษฎีอรรถประโยชน์คุณธรรม และเป็นประโยชน์ทางการเมือง theorist เจเรมีเบนแธมยอมรับอิทธิพลโดยตรงของฮูมพระองค์ ปีเดียวกันฮูมยังเผยแพร่ประการทางการเมืองของเขา ซึ่งวาดสรรเสริญทันที และอิทธิพล thinkers เศรษฐกิจ เช่นอดัมสมิธ ก็อด วิน William, Thomas มาลธัสIn 1751-1752 Hume sought a philosophy chair at the University of Glasgow, and was again unsuccessful. In 1752 his new employment as librarian of the Advocate’s Library in Edinburgh provided him with the resources to pursue his interest in history. There, he wrote much of his highly successful six-volume History of England (published from 1754 to 1762). The first volume was unfavorably received, partially for its defense of Charles I, and partially for two sections which attack Christianity. In one passage Hume notes that the first Protestant reformers were fanatical or “inflamed with the highest enthusiasm” in their opposition to Roman Catholic domination. In the second passage he labels Roman Catholicism a superstition which “like all other species of superstition. . . rouses the vain fears of unhappy mortals.” The most vocal attack against Hume’s History came from Daniel MacQueen in his 300 page Letters on Mr. Hume’s History. MacQueen scrutinizes the first volume of Hume’s work, exposing all the allegedly “loose and irreligious sneers” Hume makes against Christianity. Ultimately, this negative response led Hume to delete the two controversial passages from succeeding editions of the History.Around this time Hume also wrote his two most substantial works on religion: The Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion and The Natural History of Religion. The Natural History appeared in 1757, but, on the advice of friends who wished to steer Hume away from religious controversy, the Dialogues remained unpublished until 1779, three years after his death. The Natural History aroused controversy even before it was made public. In 1756 a volume of Hume’s essays titled Five Dissertations was printed and ready for distribution. The essays included (1) “The Natural History of Religion;” (2) “Of the Passions;” (3) “Of Tragedy;” (4) “Of Suicide;” and (5) “Of the Immortality of the Soul.” The latter two essays made direct attacks on common religious doctrines by defending a person’s moral right to commit suicide and by criticizing the idea of life after death. Early copies were passed around, and Hume’s publisher was threatened with prosecution if the book was distributed as it was. The printed copies of Five Dissertations were then physically altered by removing the essays on suicide and immortality, and inserting a new essay “Of the Standard of Taste” in their place. Hume also took this opportunity to alter two particularly offending paragraphs in the Natural History. The essays were then bound with the new title Four Dissertations and distributed in January, 1757.
In the years following Four Dissertations, Hume completed his last major literary work, The History of England, which gave him a reputation as an historian that equaled, if not overshadowed, his reputation as a philosopher. In 1763, at age 50, he was invited to accompany the Earl of Hertford to the embassy in Paris, with a near prospect of being his secretary. He eventually accepted, and remarks at the reception he received in Paris “from men and women of all ranks and stations.” He returned to Edinburgh in 1766, and continued developing relations with the greatest minds of the time. Among these was Jean Jacques Rousseau who in 1766 was ordered out of Switzerland by the government in Berne. Hume offered Rousseau refuge in England and secured him a government pension. In England, Rousseau became suspicious of plots, and publicly charged Hume with conspiring to ruin his character, under the appearance of helping him. Hume published a pamphlet defending his actions and was exonerated. Another secretary appointment took him away from 1767-1768. Returning again to Edinburgh, his remaining years were spent revising and refining his published works, and socializing with friends in Edinburgh’s intellectual circles. In 1770, fellow Scotsman James Beattie published one of the harshest attacks on Hume’s philosophy to ever appear in print, entitled An Essay on the Nature and Immutability of Truth in Opposition to Sophistry and Scepticism. Hume was upset by Beattie’s relentless verbal attacks against him in the work, but the book made Beattie famous and King George III, who admired it, awarded Beattie a pension of £200 per year.
In 1776, at age sixty-five, Hume died from an internal disorder which had plagued him for many months. After his death, his name took on new significance as several of his previously unpublished works appeared. The first was a brief autobiography, My Own Life, but even this unpretentious work aroused controversy. As his friends, Adam Smith and S.J. Pratt, published affectionate eulogies describing how he died with no concern for an afterlife, religious critics responded by condemning this unjustifiable admiration of Hume’s infidelity. Two years later, in 1779, Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion appeared. Again, the response was mixed. Admirers of Hume considered it a masterfully written work, while religious crit
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