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The
Scottish Enlightenment
David
Hume 1711- 1776
David
Hume, perhaps the most notable and controversial figure of the
Scottish Enlightenment, was born in Edinburgh in 1811, the son
of Joseph Hume of Ninewells, a Berwickshire laird who had married
the daughter of Lord Newton, a judge of the Court of Session.
Attending the University of Edinburgh, supposedly to study law,
he seems to have spent most of the time in literary and philosophical
pursuits. After a brief period working in the office of a Bristol
merchant, in 1734 he reached a turning point in his career and
went to France. There he devoted himself to study and writing
his first major philosophical work, A Treatise of Human Nature
(1739-40). He returned to London to supervise its publication.
The Treatise is considered the most outstanding book written
by any British philosopher, but in Hume's own time it was a
flop. It fell, as he put it, 'stillborn from the press'. Hume's
Treatise was divided into three books: 'Of Understanding'; 'Of
the Passions`; and'Of Morals'. Overall, this was an attempt
to formulate a complete philosophical system: Book 1 aimed at
explaining man's process of knowing and dealt with the origin
of ideas, space and time, causality and scepticism; Book 2 tried
to explain the emotional in man, giving reason a subordinate
role in the process; while Book 3 looked at moral goodness and
considered human behaviour in the light of its consequences
to oneself and others. Hume later repudiated much of the Treatise
as juvenile, though it remained a work of vital importance to
the development of empiricism.
He
moved back to Edinburgh in 1740, working there and at Ninewells
on his next venture, Essays, Moral and Political (1741-2), which
had a better reception. He was encouraged to apply for the chair
of moral philosophy at Edinburgh in 1744 but objections were
raised on the grounds of both heresy and atheism with the Treatise
cited as evidence. Disappointed, he resumed a wandering life,
returning periodically to London and Scotland. First he was
tutor to the Marquess of Annandale (1745-6), then served as
secretary to General James Sinclair (d. 1762) in Brittany (1746)
and on ambassadorial missions to Vienna and Turin (1748-9).
Several important philosophical works derived from this period.
A further Three Essays, Moral and Political (1748) and Philosophical
Essays Concerning Human Understanding (also 1748). The latter
was a re-working of Book 1 of the Treatise, to which he later
added the controversial essay, 'On Miracles', which denied that
a miracle could be proved by any weight of evidence. This work
is now better known as An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding,
the title given it in Hume's revision of 1758. Book 3 of the
Treatise was also rewritten and popularized in An Enquiry Concerning
the Principles of Morals (1751). Following the publication of
these books - which are generally regarded as his most mature
works - he settled again in Edinburgh where he lived from 1751-63.
Adam, Smith (1723-90), the political economist, tried to get
Hume appointed as his successor to the chair of logic at the
University of Glasgow, but as before he was regarded as suspiciously
anti-establishment and atheistic. Yet in 1752, thanks to influence
in high places, he was appointed keeper of the Advocates! Library
and this gave him the opportunity for further literary ventures
- philosophical and historical. His Political Discourses (1752)
included some important statements on economics, anticipating
the work of Smith in The Wealth of Nations, while the six-volume
History of England (1754-62) brought him much wider publicity.
Another book, Four Dissertations (1757) incorporated a re-working
of Book 2 of the Treatise.
In
1761 the Vatican banned all his books - though James Boswell
(1740-95) regarded him as the greatest writer in Britain. In
1763 Hume became secretary to the British ambassador to France,
the Earl of Hertford. While in Paris he was universally honoured
in the salons and at court. For a period in 1765 he was charge`
d'affaires at the embassy and when he returned to London in
1766 he brought with him the eminent French philosopher Jean-
Jacques Rousseau (1712-78). They later quarrelled and Rousseau.
returned to France. During 1767-8 Hume was under-secretary to
Henry Conway (1721-95).
Hume
returned again to Edinburgh in 1769, where he joined his old
circle of acquaintances and fellow-literati, entertained visiting
dignitaries in his Edinburgh New Town residence, revised his
earlier writings, and wrote his autobiography. He died in 1776
and was buried on Calton Hill. Hume was regarded by his contemporaries
as an outstanding thinker and this reputation has been revived
thanks to his continuing influence on modern philosophy.
David
Hume Extract of letter to Gilbert Elliot of Minto Paris, 22
September 1764
... From what human Motive or consideration can 1 prefer living
in England to that in foreign countries?
1 believe, taking the Continent of Europe, from Peterberg to
Lisbon, & from Bergen to Naples, there is not one that ever
heard my Name, who has not heard of it with Advantage, both
in point of Morals & Genius. 1 do not believe there is one
Englishman in fifty, who, if he heard that 1 had broke my Neck
tonight, would not be rejoic'd with it. Some hate me because
1 am not a Tory, some because 1 am not a Whig, some because
1 am not a Christian, and all because 1 am a Scotsman. Can you
seriously talk of my continuing an Englishman? Am 1, or are
you, an Englishman? Will they allow us to be so? Do they not
treat with Derision our Pretentions to that Name, and with Hatred
our just Pretension to surpass & govern them? 1 am a Citizen
of the World, but if 1 were to adopt any Country, it would be
that in which 1 live at present, and from which 1 am deterrnin'd
never to depart, unless a War drive me into Swisserland or Italy.
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