A Treatise of Human Nature
Quick Summary
A Treatise of Human Nature (1739–40) is a seminal work by Scottish philosopher David Hume that attempts to establish a science of human nature using the experimental method. Hume viewed philosophy as an inductive science focused on understanding human nature, concluding that humans are driven more by sentiment and practical feeling than by reason.1
The Treatise is divided into three books:
* Book I: Of the Understanding explores the origin of ideas, concepts of space and time, knowledge, probability, and the nature of causality. Hume famously questioned the necessary link between cause and effect, suggesting it arises from habit and constant conjunction rather than inherent necessity.12
* Book II: Of the Passions details psychological mechanisms explaining human emotions and the role of reason within them.1
* Book III: Of Morals defines moral goodness through feelings of approval or disapproval related to the consequences of human behavior.1
Although Hume later considered the Treatise a juvenile work, Book I significantly influenced subsequent philosophers, including Immanuel Kant. Hume's emphasis on experience and skepticism profoundly impacted epistemology and ethics.12
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Western philosophyClassical British empiricism…to the first, and Hume’s Treatise of Human Nature (1739–40), “being an attempt to apply the method of experimental reasoning to moral subjects,” was devoted to the second.
Read More…to the first, and Hume’s Treatise of Human Nature (1739–40), “being an attempt to apply the method of experimental reasoning to moral subjects,” was devoted to the second.
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epistemologyKinds of perception…in a summary explication in A Treatise of Human Nature (1739–40), impressions are felt, and ideas are thought. Nevertheless, he conceded that sometimes sleep, fever, or madness can produce ideas that approximate to the force of impressions, and some impressions can approach the weakness of ideas. But such occasions are…
Read More…in a summary explication in A Treatise of Human Nature (1739–40), impressions are felt, and ideas are thought. Nevertheless, he conceded that sometimes sleep, fever, or madness can produce ideas that approximate to the force of impressions, and some impressions can approach the weakness of ideas. But such occasions are…
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ethicsThe climax of moral sense theory: Hutcheson and HumeIn A Treatise of Human Nature (1739–40), he points, almost as an afterthought, to the fact that writers on morality regularly start by making various observations about human nature or about the existence of a god—all statements of fact about what is the case—and then suddenly…
Read MoreIn A Treatise of Human Nature (1739–40), he points, almost as an afterthought, to the fact that writers on morality regularly start by making various observations about human nature or about the existence of a god—all statements of fact about what is the case—and then suddenly…
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philosophical anthropologyBerkeley and HumeIn his A Treatise of Human Nature (1739–40), Hume argued that he was unable to find any sensible idea—his word was impression—of a “self” or “mind” in which ideas were supposed to be received. He concluded that not only things in the world but also minds were…
Read MoreIn his A Treatise of Human Nature (1739–40), Hume argued that he was unable to find any sensible idea—his word was impression—of a “self” or “mind” in which ideas were supposed to be received. He concluded that not only things in the world but also minds were…
Read More