Topics

Major Works

  • A Treatise of Human Nature (1739-1740)

    - Hume, David. A Treatise of Human Nature, edited by David Fate Norton and Mary J. Norton, Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
    From the publisher: David Hume’s comprehensive attempt to base philosophy on a new, observationally grounded study of human nature is one of the most important texts in Western philosophy. It is also the focal point of current attempts to understand… More

  • Enquiries concerning Human Understanding and concerning the Principles of Morals (1748, 1751)

    - Hume, David. Enquiries concerning Human Understanding and concerning the Principles of Morals, edited by L. A. Selby-Bigge, 3rd ed. revised by P. H. Nidditch, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975.
    From the publisher: David Hume’s Treatise of Human Nature, composed before the author was twenty-six years old, was published in 1739 and 1740. Its importance was not generally recognized at the time. Hume attributing the failure of his Treatise to the… More

  • The History of England (1754-1762)

    - Hume, David. The History of England, edited by William B. Todd, Indianapolis: Liberty Classics, 1983.
    Hume’s great History of England the theme of which is liberty, above all English constitutional development from the Anglo-Saxon period to the Revolution of 1688. This Liberty Fund edition is based on the edition of 1778, the last to contain corrections… More

  • Essays: Moral, Political, Literary (1741-1777)

    - Hume, David. Essays: Moral, Political, Literary, edited by Eugene F. Miller, Indianapolis: Liberty Classics, 1985.
    From the publisher: As part of the tried and true model of informal essay writing, Hume began publishing his Essays: Moral, Political and Literary in 1741. The majority of these finely honed treatises fall into three distinct areas: political theory, economic… More

Other Works

  • An Abstract of A Treatise of Human Nature (1740)

    - Hume, David. An Abstract of A Treatise of Human Nature, 1740, reprinted with an Introduction by J. M. Keynes and P. Sraffa, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1938.

  • A Dissertation on the Passions (1757)

    - Hume, David. A Dissertation on the Passions and The Natural History of Religion, edited by Tom L. Beauchamp, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2007.
    From the publisher: In this volume, Tom Beauchamp presents two essays from Four Dissertations (1757), the last philosophical work written by Hume, which was subsequently revised by the philosopher in the remaining years of his life. While the bulk of A… More

  • The Natural History of Religion (1757)

    - Hume, David. A Dissertation on the Passions and The Natural History of Religion, edited by Tom L. Beauchamp, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2007.
    From the publisher: In this volume, Tom Beauchamp presents two essays from Four Dissertations (1757), the last philosophical work written by Hume, which was subsequently revised by the philosopher in the remaining years of his life. While the bulk of A… More

  • My Own Life

    - Hume, David. “My Own Life” (Hume's autobiographical essay), in The Letters of David Hume, edited by J.Y.T. Greig, 2 volumes, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1932.
    From the author: To Adam Smith. May 3. You will find among my Papers a very inoffensive Piece, called My own Life, which I composed a few days before I left Edinburgh, when I thought, as did all my Friends, that my life was despaired of. There can be no… More

  • Dialogues concerning Natural Religion (1779)

    - Hume, David. Dialogues concerning Natural Religion, edited by Dorothy Coleman, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
    From the publisher: David Hume’s Dialogues concerning Natural Religion, first published in 1779, is one of the most influential works in the philosophy of religion and the most artful instance of philosophical dialogue since the dialogues of Plato. It… More

  • The Letters of David Hume

    - Hume, David. The Letters of David Hume, edited by J.Y.T. Greig, 2 volumes, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1932.
    From the publisher: J. Y. T. Greig’s two-volume edition, first published in 1932, presents the correspondence of one of the great men of the 18th century. This first volume contains David Hume’s letters from 1727 to 1765. Hume correspondents… More

Commentary

  • The Philosophy of David Hume

    - Smith, Norman Kemp. The Philosophy of David Hume, London: Macmillian, 1941.
    From the publisher: Norman Kemp Smith’s The Philosophy of David Hume has long been regarded as a classic study by scholars in the field – a ground-breaking book that has since been unsurpassed in its comprehensive coverage of the ideas and issues… More

  • Hume’s Intentions

    - Passmore, John. Hume's Intentions, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1952.
    From the publisher: John Passmore (1914-2004) was a renowned Australian empirical philosopher and historian of ideas. In this book, which was originally published in 1952, Passmore’s intention was to disentangle certain main themes in Hume’s… More

  • The Life of David Hume

    - Mossner, E.C. The Life of David Hume, London: Nelson, 1954.
    From the publisher: Mossner’s Life of David Hume remains the standard biography of this great thinker and writer. First published in 1954, and updated in 1980, this excellent life story is now reissued in paperback, in response to an overwhelming… More

  • David Hume: The Newtonian Philosopher

    - Capaldi, Nicholas. David Hume: The Newtonian Philosopher, Boston: Twayne Publishing, 1975.

  • Hume’s Philosophical Politics

    - Forbes, Duncan. Hume's Philosophical Politics, Cambridge University Press, 1975.
    From the publisher: This is a study of Hume’s political thought based on a survey of all his writings in their original and revised versions, with full reference to the works of predecessors and contemporaries, including journalists, pamphleteers and… More

  • Hume

    - Stroud, Barry. Hume, London: Routledge, 1977.
    An analytic account of Hume’s arguments.

  • The Science of a Legislator: The Natural Jurisprudence of David Hume and Adam Smith

    - Haakonssen, Knud. The Science of a Legislator: The Natural Jurisprudence of David Hume and Adam Smith, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981.
    From the publisher: Combining the methods of the modern philosopher with those of the historian of ideas, Knud Haakonssen presents an interpretation of the philosophy of law which Adam Smith developed out of – and partly in response to – David… More

  • Philosophy and Ideology in Hume’s Political Thought

    - Miller, David. Philosophy and Ideology in Hume's Political Thought, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981.
    From the publisher: This book was written with three aims in mind. The first was to provide a reasonably concise account of Hume’s social and political thought that might help students coming to it for the first time. The second aim was to say something… More

  • David Hume: Common-Sense Moralist, Sceptical Metaphysician

    - Norton, David Fate. David Hume: Common-Sense Moralist, Sceptical Metaphysician, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982.

  • The Sceptical Realism of David Hume

    - Wright, John P. The Sceptical Realism of David Hume, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1983.

  • Hume’s Philosophy of Common Life

    - Livingston, Donald W Hume's Philosophy of Common Life, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984.

  • David Hume

    - Hill, Robert S. “David Hume.” in History of Political Philosophy, edited by Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey, 535-558. 3rd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.
    From the publisher: This volume provides an unequaled introduction to the thought of chief contributors to the Western tradition of political philosophy from classical Greek antiquity to the twentieth century. Written by specialists on the various… More

  • Hume’s Place in Moral Philosophy

    - Capaldi, Nicholas. Hume's Place in Moral Philosophy, New York: Peter Lang, 1989.
    From the publisher: Eighteenth century British moral philosophy focused on three issues: (a) moral apprehension; (b) moral motivation; and (c) the relationship of moral apprehension to moral motivation. Hume resolved these issues by a Copernican revolution in… More

  • The Suasive Art of David Hume

    - Box, M. A., The Suasive Art of David Hume, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990.
    From the publisher: Recognized in his day as a man of letters equaling Rousseau and Voltaire in France and rivaling Samuel Johnson, David Hume passed from favor in the Victorian age–his work, it seemed, did not pursue Truth but rather indulged in… More

  • David Hume and the Problem of Reason

    - John Danford, "David Hume and the Problem of Reason," New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990.
    This out-of-print but important book for the understanding of Hume attempts to view the unity in Hume’s writing, whether historical or philosophical.

  • A Progress of Sentiments

    - Baier, Annette C. A Progress of Sentiments, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1991.
    From the publisher: Annette Baier’s aim is to make sense of David Hume’s Treatise as a whole. Hume’s family motto, which appears on his bookplate, was “True to the End.” Baier argues that it is not until the end of the Treatise that we get his… More

  • Freedom and Moral Sentiment

    - Russell, Paul. Freedom and Moral Sentiment, New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
    From the publisher: In this book, Russell examines Hume’s notion of free will and moral responsibility. It is widely held that Hume presents us with a classic statement of the “compatibilist” position–that freedom and responsibility… More

  • Philosophical Melancholy and Delirium: Hume’s Pathology of Philosophy

    - Livingstone, David. Philosophical Melancholy and Delirium: Hume's Pathology of Philosophy, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.
    From the publisher: The Scottish philosopher David Hume is commonly understood as the original proponent of the “end of philosophy.” In this powerful new study, Donald Livingston completely revises our understanding of Hume’s thought through… More

  • Hume: A Very Short Introduction

    - Ayer, Alfred. Hume: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
    From the publisher: Hume’s “naturalist” approach to a wide variety of philosophical topics resulted in highly original theories about perception, self-identity, causation, morality, politics, and religion, all of which are discussed in this… More

  • Hume’s Reason

    - Owen, David. Hume's Reason, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
    From the publisher: David Owen explores Hume’s account of reason and its role in human understanding, seen in the context of other notable accounts by philosophers of the early modern period. Owen offers new interpretations of many of Hume’s most… More

  • Hume: Moral and Political Philosophy,

    - Cohon, Rachel, ed. Hume: Moral and Political Philosophy, Aldershot: England and Burlington, Vermont: Dartmouth/Ashgate, 2001.
    From the publisher: This volume collects the best recent essays about the primary themes in Hume’s ethics and political philosophy, reflecting the explosion of new work on these topics spanning the last thirty years. It includes articles about… More

  • Stability and Justification in Hume’s “Treatise”

    - Loeb, Louis E. Stability and Justification in Hume's “Treatise”, New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
    From the publisher: David Hume’s A Treatise of Human Nature is famous for its extreme skepticism. Louis Loeb argues that Hume’s destructive conclusions have in fact obscured a constructive stage that Hume abandons prematurely. Working within a… More

  • Reading Hume on Human Understanding

    - Millican, Peter., ed. Reading Hume on Human Understanding, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2002.
    From the publisher: This companion to the study of one of the great works of Western philosophy–David Hume’s Enquiry concerning Human Understanding (1748)–provides a general overview of the Enquiry, especially for those approaching it for… More

  • A Reconsideration of Hume and Religious Establishment by Will Jordan

    - Jordan, Will, "Religion in the Public Square: A Reconsideration of David Hume and Religious Establishment," Review of Politics, Vol. 64, No. 4 (Autumn, 2002), pp. 687-713.
    Abstract: While recent scholarship has attempted to clarify the Founders’ opposition to religious establishment, few pause to consider public establishment as a viable alternative. This study examines one of the eighteenth century’s least likely… More

  • Hume’s Enlightenment Tract: The Unity and Purpose of “An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding”,

    - Buckle, Stephen. Hume's Enlightenment Tract: The Unity and Purpose of “An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding”, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2004.
    From the publisher: This is the first full book-length study in forty years of David Hume’s Enquiry concerning Human Understanding-which, contrary to its author’s expressed wishes, long lived in the shadow of its predecessor A Treatise of Human… More

  • The Rhetoric of Rebellion in Hume’s Constitutional Thought

    - Merrill, Thomas, "The Rhetoric of Rebellion in Hume's Constitutional Thought," The Review of Politics, Vol. 67, No. 2 (Spring, 2005), pp. 257-282
    In his History of England, David Hume suggests that the doctrine of resistance should be concealed from the populace. But this suggestion in the very public location of the History has the effect of revealing this doctrine as much as concealing it. How should… More

  • The Blackwell Guide to Hume’s Treatise

    - Traiger, Saul, ed. The Blackwell Guide to Hume's Treatise, Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2006.
    From the publisher: This Guide provides students with the scholarly and interpretive tools they need to understand Hume’s A Treatise of Human Nature and its influence on modern philosophy. A student guide to Hume’s A Treatise of Human Nature. Focuses… More

  • Custom and Reason in Hume

    - Allison, Henry E. Custom and Reason in Hume, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
    From the publisher: Henry Allison examines the central tenets of Hume’s epistemology and cognitive psychology, as contained in the Treatise of Human Nature. Allison takes a distinctive two-level approach. On the one hand, he considers Hume’s… More

  • How to Read: Hume

    - Blackburn, Simon. How to Read: Hume, London: Granta, 2008.
    From the publisher: David Hume is generally recognized as England’s greatest philosopher, as well as a notable historian and essayist. Yet his work is delicately poised between scepticism and naturalism, between despair at the limited powers of the mind… More

  • The Cambridge Companion to Hume Ed. David Norton

    - Norton, David Fate, and Taylor, Jacqueline, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Hume, 2nd edition, Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2008
    From the publisher: Each Cambridge Companion to a philosophical figure is made up of specially commissioned essays by an international team of scholars, providing students and non-specialists with an introduction to a major philosopher. The series aims to… More

  • A Companion to Hume

    - Radcliffe, Elizabeth S., ed. A Companion to Hume, Oxford: Blackwell, 2008.
    From the publisher: Comprised of twenty-nine specially commissioned essays, A Companion to Hume examines the depth of the philosophies and influence of one of history’s most remarkable thinkers. -Demonstrates the range of Hume’s work and… More

  • Introduction to Hume’s treatise by John Wright

    - Wright, John P. Hume's “A Treatise of Human Nature”: An Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
    From the publisher: David Hume’s A Treatise of Human Nature (1739–40) presents the most important account of skepticism in the history of modern philosophy. In this lucid and thorough introduction to the work, John P. Wright examines the development… More

  • David Hume and Eighteenth Century America

    - Spencer, Mark. David Hume and Eighteenth Century America, Rochester: Rochester University Press, 2010.
    From the Publisher: This book explores the reception of David Hume’s political thought in eighteenth-century America. It presents a challenge to standard interpretations that assume Hume’s thought had little influence in early America.… More

  • Hume’s Politics by Andrew Sabl

    - Sabl, Andrew, Hume's Politics: Coordination and Crisis in the History of England, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013.
    From the publisher: Hume’s Politics provides a comprehensive examination of David Hume’s political theory, and is the first book to focus on Hume’s monumental History of England as the key to his distinctly political ideas. Andrew Sabl… More

  • Hume and the Politics of Enlightenment by Thomas Merrill

    - Merill, Thomas. Hume and the Politics of Enlightenment, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.
    “Methinks I am like a man, who having narrowly escap’d shipwreck,” David Hume writes in A Treatise of Human Nature, “has yet the temerity to put out to sea in the same leaky weather-beaten vessel, and even carries his ambition so far… More

  • Hume: An Intellectual Biography

    - Harris, James, Hume: An Intellectual Biography, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.
    From the Publisher: This is the first book to provide a comprehensive overview of the entire career of one of Britain’s greatest men of letters. It sets in biographical and historical context all of Hume’s works, from A Treatise of Human Nature to… More

  • David Hume and America by Tom Velk & Jade Xiao [Full Text]

    - Tom Velk and Jade Xiao, "David Hume and America, Then and Now," Great Thinkers, October, 2017.
    Click here to read an essay on David Hume and his influence on the American founders (notably Alexander Hamilton) by Tom Velk and Jade Xiao. Excerpt: The lessons laid out in Hume’s Essays and the History were carefully read at the time of their composition… More

  • The Infidel and the Professor: David Hume, Adam Smith, and the Friendship That Shaped Modern Thought

    - Rasmussen, Dennis, The Infidel and the Professor, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2017.
    Excerpt: As David Hume lay on his deathbed in the summer of 1776, much of the British public, both north and south of the Tweed, waited expectantly for news of his passing. His writings had challenged their views—philosophical, political, and especially… More

  • David Hume Society Resources

    The website of the David Hume Society contains link to much useful scholarship devoted to Hume, including the journal “Hume Studies.”

Multimedia

  • John Passmore on Hume

    - (Date/source unknown)
    John Passmore interviewed by Bryan Magee on David Hume.

  • Introduction to David Hume

    - Peter Millican, University of Oxford, Fall 2009.
    The first in a series of introductory lectures on David Hume given by Peter Millican at Oxford University, Published on Oct 21, 2010

  • David Hume: 18th Century Philosopher

    - Open University podcast series: "David Hume: 18th Century Philosopher". Five episodes. Each approximately 10 minutes. Open University, UK, 2011.
    In this audio collection, The Open University’s Nigel Warburton is joined by A.C. Grayling and other philosophers to discuss Hume’s key theories around the self, induction and his argument against miracles. A good entry point into philosophy and the work… More

  • In Our Time: David Hume

    - In Our Time, BBC Radio Four, October 6, 2011.
    Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the philosophy of Hume.

  • Impressions of David Hume

    - Grant Bartley, with Jane O’Grady, Peter Kail and James Arnold. Philosophy Now Podcast. First broadcast on 11 May 2014.
    Isaiah Berlin said of David Hume, “No man has influenced the history of philosophy to a deeper or more disturbing degree.” Join  from Philosophy Now plus guests Jane O’Grady, Peter Kail and James Arnold to find out why.

  • Hume and the Politics of Enlightenment

    - Thomas W. Merrill, on Libertarianism.org podcast. April, 2016.
    Thomas W. Merrill, author of David Hume and the Politics of Enlightenment (Cambridge University Press, 2015), joins Libertarianism.org to talk about the philosophy and political thought of David Hume. What is it about British philosopher David Hume that… More

  • Audiobooks of Hume’s Works

    Archive.org’s collection of Hume’s works on audiobook.

  • David Hume: Celebrating Connections

    - Video or Audio. David Hume: Celebrating Connections, University of Edinburgh, 2016.
    In 2016, The University of Edinburgh featured a lecture series to mark the tercentenary of its alumnus David Hume, and made the lectures available as Podcasts. Lecture series content The video podcast contains the following lectures: Prof. Paul Guyer –… More

  • Dennis Rasmussen on David Hume and Adam Smith

    - EconTalk podcast, hosted by Russ Roberts, November 6, 2017.
    How did the friendship between David Hume and Adam Smith influence their ideas? Why do their ideas still matter today? Political Scientist Dennis Rasmussen of Tufts University and author of The Infidel and the Professor talks with EconTalk host Russ… More