Liberty Fund Books

Description

This edition contains the thirty-nine essays included in Essays, Moral, and Literary, that made up Volume I of the 1777 posthumous Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects. It also includes ten essays that were withdrawn or left unpublished by Hume for various reasons. The two most important were deemed too controversial for the religious climate of his time.

This revised edition reflects changes based on further comparisons with eighteenth-century texts and an extensive reworking of the index.

Eugene F. Miller is a professor of Political Science at the University of Georgia.

Reviews

We have Hume's own word that the definitive statement of his philosophy is not to be found in the youthful Treatise of Human Nature but in the 1777 posthumous edition of his collected works entitled Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects. Yet a major part of this definitive collection, the Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary (a volume of near 600 pages, covering three decades of Hume's career as a philosopher) has been largely ignored. The volume has rarely been in print, and the last critical edition was published in 1874-75. With this splendid, but inexpensive, new critical edition by Eugene Miller, the door is open to a richer notion of Hume's conception of philosophy.

— Donald Livingston, Emory University

Table of Contents

Foreword by Eugene F. Miller, xi
Editor's Note, xix
My Own Life by David Hume, xxxi
Letter from Adam Smith, LL.D. to William Strahan, Esq. xliii

PART 1

I Of the Delicacy of Taste and Passion 3
II Of the Liberty of the Press 9
III That Politics may be reduced to a Science 14
IV Of the First Principles of Government 32
V Of the Origin of Government 37
VI Of the Independency of Parliament 42
VII Whether the British Government inclines more to Absolute Monarchy, or to a Republic 47
VIII Of Parties in General 54
IX Of the Parties of Great Britain 64
X Of Superstition and Enthusiasm 73
XI Of the Dignity or Meanness of Human Nature 80
XII Of Civil Liberty 87
XII Of Eloquence 97
XIV Of the Rise and Progress of the Arts and Sciences 111
XV The Epicurean 138
XVI The Stoic 146
XVII The Platonist 155
XVIII The Sceptic 159
XIX Of Polygamy and Divorces 181
XX Of Simplicity and Refinement in Writing 191
XXI Of National Characters 197
XXII Of Tragedy 216
XXIII Of the Standard of Taste 226

PART II

I Of Commerce 253
II Of Refinement in the Arts 268
III Of Money 281
IV Of Interest 295
V Of the Balance of Trade 308
VI Of the Jealousy of Trade 327
VII Of the Balance of Power 332
VIII Of Taxes 342
IX Of Public Credit 349
X Of some Remarkable Customs 366
XI Of the Populousness of Ancient Nations 377
XII Of the Original Contract 465
XIII Of Passive Obedience 488
XIV Of the Coalition of Parties 493
XV Of the Protestant Succession 502
XVI Idea of a Perfect Commonwealth 512

ESSAYS WITHDRAWN AND UNPUBLISHED

I Of Essay-Writing 533
II Of Moral Prejudices 538
III Of the Middle Station of Life 545
IV Of Impudence and Modesty 552
V Of Love and Marriage 557
VI Of the Study of History 563
VII Of Avarice 569
VIII A Character of Sir Robert Walpole 574
IX Of Suicide 577
X Of the Immortaility of the Soul 590

Variant Readings, 599
Glossary, 649
Index, 661