Hume's life and works

International Journal of Philosophical Studies, 2010

This PDF file is part of a 10 Volume series titled "Early Responses to Hume." The printed version of the 10-volume set is under copyright by the original publisher. The electronic version is under copyright by the author, James Fieser, and is available under Creative Commons license Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND). The individual volumes are these: Vol. 1: Early Responses to Hume’s Moral Theory Vol. 2: Early Responses to Hume's Essays Vols. 3 and 4: Early Responses to Hume's Metaphysical and Epistemological Writings Vols. 5 and 6: Early Responses to Hume’s Writings on Religion Vols. 7 and 8: Early Responses to Hume’s History of England Vols. 9 and 10: Early Hume’s Life and Reputation, with Bibliography of Early Responses to Hume and Indexes to all 10 volumes.

If Scottish philosopher David Hume were ever depicted as a comic-book superhero, he would undoubtedly be drawn as the Arch-Sceptic, a dark and brooding figure with a permanent curl upon his lip and an ever-ready retort for those mortal enemies of good philosophy, intellectual sloth and religious dogma. In his hey-day in eighteenth-century Britain, Hume was regarded as the scourge of Christian bigots everywhere, a crusading atheist who could not rest until he had witnessed the demise of all religion. His contemporary critics fought back with accusations that he was an unnatural "monster", a man who had robbed the unhappy masses of their chief consolation, and someone whose work represented "the vile effusion of a hard and stupid heart". In the nineteenth century, scholars perpetuated such views by attributing to Hume an extravagant and universal scepticism, one that left his readers in a state of permanent mistrust and doubt about their own faculties. And so, well into the twentieth century, Hume suffered the fate of many a complex superhero: despite his best intentions, he came to be misrepresented and misunderstood.

This PDF file is part of a 10 Volume series titled "Early Responses to Hume." The printed version of the 10-volume set is under copyright by the original publisher. The electronic version is under copyright by the author, James Fieser, and is available under Creative Commons license Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND). The individual volumes are these: Vol. 1: Early Responses to Hume’s Moral Theory Vol. 2: Early Responses to Hume's Essays Vols. 3 and 4: Early Responses to Hume's Metaphysical and Epistemological Writings Vols. 5 and 6: Early Responses to Hume’s Writings on Religion Vols. 7 and 8: Early Responses to Hume’s History of England Vols. 9 and 10: Early Hume’s Life and Reputation, with Bibliography of Early Responses to Hume and Indexes to all 10 volumes.

David Hume's "Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects" is his authorized collection of published philosophical writings, which he often referred to as simply “my philosophy.” The collection first appeared in 1753 and was revised by him in ten later editions, the last of which appeared posthumously in 1777. This essay discusses history and evolving contents of that collection.

This PDF file is part of a 10 Volume series titled "Early Responses to Hume." The printed version of the 10-volume set is under copyright by the original publisher. The electronic version is under copyright by the author, James Fieser, and is available under Creative Commons license Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND). The individual volumes are these: Vol. 1: Early Responses to Hume’s Moral Theory Vol. 2: Early Responses to Hume's Essays Vols. 3 and 4: Early Responses to Hume's Metaphysical and Epistemological Writings Vols. 5 and 6: Early Responses to Hume’s Writings on Religion Vols. 7 and 8: Early Responses to Hume’s History of England Vols. 9 and 10: Early Hume’s Life and Reputation, with Bibliography of Early Responses to Hume and Indexes to all 10 volumes.

Sképsis: Revista de Filosofia,, 2023

Recasting Hume and Early Modern Philosophy is a collection of essays that are all concerned with major figures and topics in the early modern philosophy. Most of the essays are concerned, more specifically, with the philosophy of David Hume (1711-1776). The sixteen essays included in this collection are divided into five parts. These parts are arranged under the headings of: (1) Metaphysics and Epistemology; (2) Free Will and Moral Luck; (3) Ethics, Virtue and Optimism; (4) Skepticism, Religion and Atheism; and (5) Irreligion and the Unity of Hume’s Thought. A particularly important theme running through many of these essays is the subject of Hume’s irreligious aims and intentions. The fifth and final part of the collection is devoted to an articulation and defence of this specific understanding of Hume’s philosophical thought. Precis of Recasting Hume and Early Modern Philosophy. Book Symposium: Paul Russell, Recasting Hume and Early Modern Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021). Sképsis: Revista de Filosofia, 14. 26: 71-73 . With replies to critics: Peter Fosl (pp. 77-95), Claude Gautier (pp. 96-111) , and Todd Ryan (pp.112-122).

This PDF file is part of a 10 Volume series titled "Early Responses to Hume." The printed version of the 10-volume set is under copyright by the original publisher. The electronic version is under copyright by the author, James Fieser, and is available under Creative Commons license Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND). The individual volumes are these: Vol. 1: Early Responses to Hume’s Moral Theory Vol. 2: Early Responses to Hume's Essays Vols. 3 and 4: Early Responses to Hume's Metaphysical and Epistemological Writings Vols. 5 and 6: Early Responses to Hume’s Writings on Religion Vols. 7 and 8: Early Responses to Hume’s History of England Vols. 9 and 10: Early Hume’s Life and Reputation, with Bibliography of Early Responses to Hume and Indexes to all 10 volumes.

This essay takes on two tasks. First it updates the standard list of eighteenth-century British reviews of Hume's writings by providing references to additional reviews which do not appear in the Hume literature. To Jessop's list of eighteen British reviews, thirteen new reviews are listed for first edition publications of Hume's writings, and eight new reviews are listed for eighteenth-century abridgments and collections containing Hume's writings. Second, this essay presents a history of the early British review journals and a discussion of the scholarly merits of the Hume reviews.

Though each of its four constituent essays has received scholarly attention in itself, Hume’s Four Dissertations (1757) has received virtually no consideration from scholars as a unified whole. This article offers such an assessment, and argues that two crucially Humean themes link the four texts. First, they show the applicability of Hume’s theory of the passions to a wide range of questions: to the philosophy of religion, to psychology, and to aesthetics. Second, they show Hume grappling with the tension between his iconoclastic religious skepticism and his valorization of tolerant and sociable exchange between thinkers with differing views.