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This companion to the study of one of the great works of Western philosophy--David Hume's Enquiry concerning Human Understanding (1748)--provides a general overview of the Enquiry, especially for those approaching it for the first time, and sets it in the context of Hume's philosophical work as a whole. It elucidates, analyzes, and assesses the philosophy of the Enquiry, clarifying its interpretation and discussing recent developments in Hume scholarship that are relevant to the Enquiry. The eminent contributors to this volume cover a broad range of topics: meaning, induction, skepticism, belief, personal identity, causation, freedom, miracles, probability, and religious belief.

This companion to the study of one of the great works of Western philosophy--David Hume's Enquiry concerning Human Understanding (1748)--provides a general overview of the Enquiry, especially for those approaching it for the first time, and sets it in the context of Hume's philosophical work as a whole. It elucidates, analyzes, and assesses the philosophy of the Enquiry, clarifying its interpretation and discussing recent developments in Hume scholarship that are relevant to the Enquiry. The eminent contributors to this volume cover a broad range of topics: meaning, induction, skepticism, belief, personal identity, causation, freedom, miracles, probability, and religious belief.

My own life -- Selections from Hume's letters concerning virtue, religion and matters literary -- Selections from Hume's letters on history, politics, law, commerce and Scottish affairs -- Hume's last letter : to Adam Smith -- Selections from An enquiry concerning the principles of morals -- Extracts from Of the liberty of the press.

In his autobiographical My Own Life, Hume wrote that Books 1 and 3 of his Treatise of Human Nature were "cast anew" in the Enquiry concerning Human Understanding and the Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals respectively. He did not mention Book 2 of his Treatise there, nor the Dissertation on the Passions. Had he done so, however, he might have said the same thing about this pair. As much is anyway implied in the advertisement to volume 2 of the Essays and Treatises (which included the Dissertation in between the two Enquiries in the fourth and all subsequent editions, mimicking the structure of the Treatise): "Most of the principles, and reasonings, contained in this volume, were published in a work in ..

What is now known as Hume’s first Enquiry was first published in 1748, by Andrew Millar of the Strand, London, under the title Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding . A second edition appeared in 1750, and this was reprinted in 1751 and 1753, the latter in the form of volume II of Hume’s four volume Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects . This arrangement was retained in the third edition of 1756, at which point volume II was the only one of the four to be reissued. The next edition of the Essays and Treatises , in 1758, combined the constituent works into a single volume, and here Hume permanently changed the title of his Philosophical Essays to An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding . In the four volume 1760 and 1770 editions of the Essays and Treatises , the Enquiry appeared in volume III with A Dissertation on the Passions . In the two volume editions of 1764, 1767, 1768, 1772, and 1777, it appeared at the beginning of volume II, followed in order by A Dissertation on the Passions , An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals , and The Natural History of Religion.

More than two hundred years after its publication, David Hume's Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals is still widely regarded as either a footnote to the more philosophically interesting third book of the Treatise, or an abbreviated, more stylish, version of that earlier work. These standard interpretations are rather difficult to square with Hume's own assessment of the second Enquiry. Are we to think that Hume called the EPM “incomparably the best” of all his writings only because he preferred that later style of exposition? Or worse, should we take his preference for the second Enquiry as a sign of aging literary vanity? Does Hume's stated preference for the EPM in no way speak to its philosophical content?

This is the first new scholarly edition this century of one of the greatest works in the history of philosophy, David Hume's Enquiry concerning Human Understanding. It is the third volume of the Clarendon Hume Edition, which will be the definitive edition for the foreseeable future. In this work Hume gives an elegant and accessible presentation of strikingly original and challenging views. The distinguished Hume scholar Tom Beauchamp presents an authoritative text accompanied by an introduction, annotation, a glossary, biographical sketches, bibliographies, and indexes.

This first volume in the Clarendon Hume presents a definitive new scholarly edition of one of the greatest works in the history of philosophy. In this elegant and lucid Enquiry Hume gives an accessible presentation of his fully developed ethical theory. The distinguished Hume scholar Tom Beauchamp presents an authoritative text accompanied by introduction, annotation, glossary, biographical sketches, bibliographies, and indexes.