- Paperback: 732 pages
- Publisher: Clarendon Press; 2 edition (22 Feb 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0199243360
- ISBN-13: 978-0199243365
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 13.8 x 4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 408,825 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Product Description
Mossner's Life of David Hume remains the standard biography of this great thinker and writer. First published in 1954, and updated in 1980, it is now reissued in paperback, in response to increased interest in Hume. E. C. Mossner was Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin. 'Mossner's work is a quite remarkable scholarly achievement; it will be an indispensable tool for Hume scholars and a treasure-trove of information for all students of the intellectual and literary history of the eighteenth century' Richard H. Popkin in the Philological Quarterly 'This magnificent and exemplary work...has more than a biographical value. It is a study of intellectual reaction in the eighteenth century: a book for many readers, and not only for those of a philosophical turn.' C. E. Vulliamy in The Observer 'This is the work of a man thoroughly in love with his subject...this biography is the product of long and happy research. The length and the happiness both contribute to its merits.' The Times Literary Supplement
About the Author
E.C. Mossner was formerly Professor of English at the University of Texas.
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DAVID HUME lived during the Age of Enlightenment amidst that welter of ideas and social forces that was to make the eighteenth century part-and-parcel of modernity. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
DAVID HUME lived during the Age of Enlightenment amidst that welter of ideas and social forces that was to make the eighteenth century part-and-parcel of modernity. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Life of David Hume
Many believe that Hume was the greatest philosopher to write in the English language. And his philosophy is now very well-known world wide. In his own time Hume was among the first to attempt to write a social history of England and his work in that field stood the test of time for almost a century. But as to the man himself, comparatively little is written and Mossner is the first authority to be cited by most interested in the whole David Hume, from his early days in the family home at Ninewells, Chirnside, Berwickshire in Scotland when a brilliant thought that was to change his life and that of millions of others hit him, through his almost hilarious military and diplomatic career, his dallying with the 'ladies' of the French Court to his retirement to his home in St David Street in the (very) New Town of Edinburgh, his final passion for a young daughter of the Baron of the Exchequer of Scotland and his prowess as a cook and host. David Hume set the scene for the Scottish Enlightenment and for generations of common sense sceptics. He valued good manners very highly and saw civilised living as a fragile boon not to be dallied with. Lean, clever, prudent in his youth, fat jolly and charming in his later years, he rose from modest circumstances to become a man of some substance, independent of thought with opinions supported by strong arguments that ring a bell today when superstitious beliefs are becoming so prevalent and gullibility so commonplace. The tercentenary of David's birth is in 2011 and doubtless there will be another revival of interest in him and his works. This book is a 'must'.
Many believe that Hume was the greatest philosopher to write in the English language. And his philosophy is now very well-known world wide. In his own time Hume was among the first to attempt to write a social history of England and his work in that field stood the test of time for almost a century. But as to the man himself, comparatively little is written and Mossner is the first authority to be cited by most interested in the whole David Hume, from his early days in the family home at Ninewells, Chirnside, Berwickshire in Scotland when a brilliant thought that was to change his life and that of millions of others hit him, through his almost hilarious military and diplomatic career, his dallying with the 'ladies' of the French Court to his retirement to his home in St David Street in the (very) New Town of Edinburgh, his final passion for a young daughter of the Baron of the Exchequer of Scotland and his prowess as a cook and host. David Hume set the scene for the Scottish Enlightenment and for generations of common sense sceptics. He valued good manners very highly and saw civilised living as a fragile boon not to be dallied with. Lean, clever, prudent in his youth, fat jolly and charming in his later years, he rose from modest circumstances to become a man of some substance, independent of thought with opinions supported by strong arguments that ring a bell today when superstitious beliefs are becoming so prevalent and gullibility so commonplace. The tercentenary of David's birth is in 2011 and doubtless there will be another revival of interest in him and his works. This book is a 'must'.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
37 of 37 people found the following review helpful
THE life of the extraordinary scottish philosopher
7 Jan 1998
Format:Hardcover
What is there not to like about this beautifully written account of the admirable David Hume? It conveys the time (American Independence, the flowering of Scottish genius, the major development of sceptical inquiry), the places (Scotland, England, France), the people: Rousseau, the French Court but most of all Hume himself whose good humour, decency and genius can only inspire others who have the courage to question. I think the full quality of this book is portrayed by the fact that twenty years after I gave a copy to my father he quotes Humes's comments on facing death in a letter to me. A book you could never give away without keeping a copy yourself.
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Fine Biography
30 Mar 2003
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is only modern biography of Hume. Very well written and researched, it concentrates on Hume's personal life and career as a man of letters. Hume is a wonderful subject for a biography; an important figure who is simultaneously a warm and attractive personality. Mossner does an excellent job of detailing Hume's personal life, friendships, and literary career. For individuals really interested in Hume, this book is a treasure trove of information. It is also a very valuable work on the intellectual culture of 18th century Scotland and the Enlightenment in general. Mossner describes very well the intellectual atmosphere of lowland Scotland, which produced not only Hume, but Adam Smith, the great chemist Joseph Black (though Mossner mentions him only as a physician), and numerous other important intellectuals. Mossner shows also the international quality of the Enlightenment. Within months of publication, Hume's Treatise on Human Nature was mentioned in German publications, and his later, more popular works were known across Europe. Hume had an international, even intercontinental (Benjamin Franklin), set of correspondents and friends. This books is a valuable companion to reading Hume's work.
What this book is not, however, is a full scale critical work. Actual discussion and analysis of Hume's important philosophical work is relatively brief. Nor is there much explicit discussion of the origins of Hume's thought in the work of prior 18th and 17th century thinkers. This biography was last revised in the late 1970s and apparently not greatly changed from the original version published in 1954. Over the course of the 20th century, Hume came to be regarded as one of the real titans of Western thought, with a corresponding increase in the secondary literature on Hume. We also know much more about the 18th century and the Enlightenment than Mossner. There is definitely a need for a major critical biography of Hume, though producing such a work could easily consume a scholar's career.
What this book is not, however, is a full scale critical work. Actual discussion and analysis of Hume's important philosophical work is relatively brief. Nor is there much explicit discussion of the origins of Hume's thought in the work of prior 18th and 17th century thinkers. This biography was last revised in the late 1970s and apparently not greatly changed from the original version published in 1954. Over the course of the 20th century, Hume came to be regarded as one of the real titans of Western thought, with a corresponding increase in the secondary literature on Hume. We also know much more about the 18th century and the Enlightenment than Mossner. There is definitely a need for a major critical biography of Hume, though producing such a work could easily consume a scholar's career.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Great book (but lousy printing)
7 July 2004
Format:Paperback
Given the price of this book - some 40% overpriced for a book of this type and lenghth - you'd think that at least the print job should be done properly. After all, this is the Oxford U Press. Well, in my copy, the ink quantity fluctuates, so that some paragraphs are dark while others light. This is a little annoying when the random contrasts have nothing to do with emphasis! Also, the back breaks so easily, that this book is effectively a pulp print. Then why the high price, pray tell me ?
Anyway, these are trivial matters. The book itself is very good. I consider it complementary to Norman Kemp Smith's study of Hume's philosophy, as it focuses on Hume the man rather than his philosophy. As Sir James Jeans said, the biography of a philosopher is not irrelevant to his thought, and Hume is no exception. (This is less true of natural scientists.) Mossner's book is particularly helpful in answering my own questions about Hume's religious views - a topic of the most controversial sort even in his own day.
I'm very impressed that Mossner pointed out the fact that Hume had inspired Einstein on his road to relativity. This little known fact was always very important in my own estimate of the great philosopher.
Here's the irony. Hume wrote his masterpiece in France, which remained the only place where he was really appreciated. Back in Scotland, he could not even find a proper job. And now, the best 20th century biography (there are good 19th century biographies) of Hume was written not by a Scotsman or even an Englishman, but by a Texan (probably) of Jewish descent. What have all these Edinburgh professors (excepting Smith, of course) been doing all these years? Given the primary sources at their disposal, why didn't they just pick up the pen to reconstruct the life of Scotland's - even Britain's - greatest non-scientific thinker? One suspects that to this day Hume is still under-appreciated in Scotland.
Mossner's biography of Hume is a labor of love.
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