Liberty, Commerce, and Happiness in Johnson and Hume
ABSTRACT
This conference explored the connection between liberty and happiness in David Hume and Samuel Johnson. Both shared what could be called a conservative disposition and were students of ancient philosophical schools with regard to happiness. In addition, both men inhabited and supported a society that enables the free exchange of ideas.
READING LIST
From Liberty Fund
Political Writings
by
By Samuel Johnson
Edited by Donald J. Greene
The eighteenth century produced a remarkable array of thinkers whose influence in the development of free societies and free institutions is incalculable. Among these thinkers were Mandeville, Hutcheson, Smith, Hume, and Burke; their time is known as the Age of Johnson. Samuel Johnson: Political Writings contains twenty-four of Johnson’s essays…
Additional Readings
Hume, David. Essays: Moral, Political, and Literary. Edited by Eugene F. Miller. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1985.
Johnson, Samuel. Selected Essays from the "Rambler", "Adventurer" and "Idler" (The Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson). Edited by W. J. Bate. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1968.
Johnson, Samuel. The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia. Edited by Thomas Keymer. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.