An enquiry concerning human understanding
The Enquiry considers the origin and processes of human thought and argues that we should liberate ourselves from the 'superstition' of false metaphysics and religion. This edition places the work in its historical and philosophical context. - ;'Commit it then to the flames: for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.'. Thus ends David Hume's Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, the definitive statement of the greatest philosopher in the English language. His arguments in support of reasoning from experience, and against the 'sophistry and illusion' of religiously inspired philosophical fantasies, caused controversy in the eighteenth century and are strikingly relevant today, when faith and science continue to clash. The Enquiry considers the origin and processes of human thought, reaching the stark conclusion that we can have no ultimate understanding of the physical world, or indeed our own minds. In either sphere we must depend on instinctive learning from experience, recognizing our animal nature and the limits of reason. Hume's calm and open-minded scepticism thus aims to provide a new basis for science, liberating us from the 'superstition' of false metaphysics and religion. His Enquiry. remains one of the best introductions to the study of philosophy, and this edition places it in its historical and philosophical context. -
1 online resource (676 unnumbered pages).
9780191526350, 9780199211586, 0191526355, 0199211582
314220887
Cover
Copyright Page
Title Page
Contents
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. From Ancient to Modern Cosmology
2. From Aristotelian to Cartesian Intelligibility
3. Corpuscularianism, Locke, and Newton
4. Free Will, and the Dangers of Infidelity
5. God's Design, and Human Reason
6. Inertness, Malebranche, and Berkeley
7. The Humean Revolution
8. Section I: The Aims of the Enquiry
9. Sections II and III: The Origin and Association of Ideas
10. Section IV: Hume's Fork
11. Sections IV and V: The Basis of Factual Reasoning
12. Section VI: 'Of Probability'
13. Section VII: 'Of the Idea of Necessary Connexion'
14. Section VIII: 'Of Liberty and Necessity'
15. Section IX: 'Of the Reason of Animals'
16. Section X: 'Of Miracles'
17. Section XI: 'Of a Particular Providence, and of a Future State'
18. Section XII: 'Of the Academical or Sceptical Philosophy'
Note on the Text
Select Bibliography
A Chronology of David Hume
AN ENQUIRY CONCERNING HUMAN UNDERSTANDING
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I. Of the different Species of Philosophy
II. Of the Origin of Ideas
III. Of the Association of Ideas
IV. Sceptical Doubts concerning the Operations of the Understanding
V. Sceptical Solution of these Doubts
VI. Of Probability
VII. Of the Idea of necessary Connexion
VIII. Of Liberty and Necessity
IX. Of the Reason of Animals
X. Of Miracles
XI. Of a particular Providence and of a future State
XII. Of the academical or sceptical Philosophy
Hume's Endnotes
Appendix I: Abstract of A Treatise of Human Nature (1740)
Appendix II: 'Of the Immortality of the Soul' (printed 1755)
Appendix III: Excerpts from Parts I and II of the Dialogues concerning Natural Religion (1779)
Appendix IV: Excerpts from Hume's Letters
Appendix V: 'My Own Life'
Textual Variants. Explanatory Notes
Glossary
Glossarial Index of Major Philosophers and Philosophical Movements
Hume's Index
Index of Major Themes, Concepts, and Examples
Index of Names Mentioned in the Enquiry
Index of References to Hume's Works
Footnotes
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