David Hume : the philosopher as historian / Nicholas Phillipson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Phillipson, N. T. (Nicholas T.)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Historians--Scotland--Biography.

Historians.

Philosophers--Scotland--Biography.

Philosophers.

Hume, David, 1711-1776.

Hume, David.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (168 p.)

Edition:

Rev. ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven, CT : Yale University Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

A giant of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, David Hume was one of the most important philosophers ever to write in English. He was also a brilliant historian. In this booka new and revised edition of his 1989 classicNicholas Phillipson shows how Hume freed history from religion and politics. As a philosopher, Hume sought a way of seeing the world and pursuing happiness independently of a belief in God. His groundbreaking approach applied the same outlook to Britain's history, showing how the past was shaped solely through human choices and actions.In this analysis of Hume's life and works, from his university days in Edinburgh to the rapturous reception of his History of England, Nicholas Phillipson reveals the gradual process by which one of the greatest Western philosophers turned himself into one of the greatest historians of Britain. In doing so, he shows us how revolutionary Hume was, and why his ideas still matter today.

Contents:

Life and letters

Politics, politeness and men of letters

Scepticism, science and the natural history of man

A philosopher's agenda for a history of England

History of England 1 : the Stuarts and the origins of the Matchless Constitution

History of England 2 : The Tudors and the early history of England

Philosophy, history and the History of England.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-280-06218-5

9786613519924

0-300-18486-7

OCLC:

923597394