- Paperback: 448 pages
- Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks; New edition edition (4 Jun 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0192836218
- ISBN-13: 978-0192836212
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,099,889 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
Selected Essays (Oxford World's Classics)
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"Good selection, printing and price."--Martin Weatherston, East Stroudsburg University
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In his writings, David Hume set out to bridge the gap between the learned world of the academy and the marketplace of polite society. This collection, drawing largely on his Essays Moral, Political, and Literary (1776 edition), which was even more popular than his famous Treatise of Human Nature, comprehensively shows how far he succeeded. From `Of Essay Writing' to `Of the Rise and Progress of the Arts and Sciences' Hume embraces a staggering range of social, cultural, political, demographic, and historical concerns. With the scope typical of the Scottish Enlightenment, he charts the state of civil society, manners, morals, and taste, and the development of political economy in the mid-eighteenth century. These essays represent not only those areas where Hume's arguments are revealingly typical of his day, but also where he is strikingly innovative in a period already famous for its great thinkers.
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THE elegant part of mankind, who are not immersed in mere animal life, but employ themselves in the operations of the mind, may be divided into the learned and conversable. Read the first page
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THE elegant part of mankind, who are not immersed in mere animal life, but employ themselves in the operations of the mind, may be divided into the learned and conversable. Read the first page
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
really great reading on all sorts of topics. of course a little dated but also surprising and charming to see how hume cought on to the embryos of modern realizations in philosophy and science.
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7 reviews
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Fine selection of essays by a great man
23 Feb 2001
Format:Paperback
This comparatively short book consists of extremely well-selected essays by the great Scottish philosopher and historian, on everything from public credit to delicacy of taste. Also included are the different classes of philosphers, including the class Hume falls under, The Sceptic (Hume's sp.). There is also an exceedingly interesting essay on the populousness of the world in ancient times. Apparently, the accepted notion at Hume's time was that there were hordes of people in ancient times and that our race has been dwindling ever since. Hume, on the other hand, proposes the radical notion that just the opposite is the case, and sets out to prove it quite handily.-Overall, the best introduction to one of my favorite writers that I've yet to read.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Highly entertaining corpus of essays
5 Mar 2001
Format:Paperback
Written in the highly polished Augustan prose style of the period, this is a fine selection of essays from the pen of the great Scottish philosopher, historian and economist, David Hume. The essays range from aesthetics, commerce, history and ethics, which include such pieces as "The Epicurean", "The Stoic" and "The Sceptic" (Hume's own credo) all which are rather curiously positioned and excellently written guides to living. "Of the Immortality of the Soul" and "Of Suicide", two of Hume's most controversial essays touching on theological topics, are also included in this volume. Both succeeded, with their bold, original arguments, in outraging the British clergy, which helps us to understand why Hume decided to have them published posthumously.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Excellent View of Hume
2 Jun 2004
Format:Paperback
Hume is known today primarily for his seminal philosophical works. He regarded himself, however, as a man of letters who contributed to many areas and he was known best to his contemporaries as a historian. This nice collection of essays displays the breadth of Hume's interests and his well developed writing style. Hume was particularly interested in essays which would bring important topics before a broad public and wrote in an accessible and often entertaining style. Some of Hume's best known essays on philosophical and religous topics are included in this collection. What may be of greatest interest are some of the lesser known essays which display both the versatility and the power of Hume's intellect. Included are essays on economics and international trade, and also some political theory. Hume was an opponent of mercantilist ideas, supporting the largely correct notion that trade would enrich all parties. His political theory is particularly interesting. In contradistinction to the widely accepted ideas of the time, Hume suggested that republican governments could be stable if the size of the republic was large enough to encompass enough competing groups to prevent one from assuming complete control. It is known that James Madison read Hume in the period leading up to the Constitutional Convention and many scholars suspect that Hume's ideas were the germ of the defense of republicanism/federalism developed by Madison in the Federalist Papers. A momentous idea with momentous consequences.
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