A treatise of human nature / David Hume, author ; L. A. Selby-Bigge, editor.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hume, David, author.

Contributor:

Selby-Bigge, L. A., editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Emotions (Philosophy).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (3 volumes (xxiii, 709 pages))

Other Title:

A treatise of human nature

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1789.

Summary:

"Hume argues that the science of man--the study of human nature--is the only solid foundation for the other sciences. The sciences of mathematics, natural philosophy, and natural religion are dependent on the knowledge of man, and this dependence seen even more clearly in the other sciences (logic, morals, criticism, and politics) whose connection with human nature is more close and intimate. The only expedient from which we can hope for success in our philosophical researches is to march up directly to human nature itself; which once being masters of, we may every where else hope for an easy victory. In pretending therefore to explain the principles of human nature, we in effect propose a complete system of the sciences, built on a foundation almost entirely new, and the only one upon which they can stand with any security. The only solid foundation we can give to this science itself must be laid on experience and observation. We must glean up our experiments in this science from a cautious observation of human life, and take them as they appear in the common course of the world, by men's behavior in company, in affairs, and in their pleasures. Where experiments of this kind are judiciously collected and compared, we may hope to establish on them a science, which will not be inferior in certainty, and will be much superior in utility to any other of human comprehension"--Introduction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Reprinted from the original edition.

Includes bibliographical references.