Essays

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hume, David, 1711-1776

Contributor:

Bennett, Hannaford, 1867-1946

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource : multiple file formats

Place of Publication:

Salt Lake City, UT : Project Gutenberg,

Summary:

"Essays" by David Hume is a collection of philosophical essays written in the 18th century. The book covers a range of topics, including politics, taste, and the nature of government, reflecting Hume's explorations of moral and political philosophy. The opening portion introduces Hume's life, detailing his background, education, and the struggles he faced before gaining recognition as a significant thinker of his time. At the start of the collection, a biographical introduction sets the stage for understanding Hume's perspectives. It discusses his early life, including his ambition toward literature over law, and his move to France, where he began writing significant works, including his "Treatise of Human Nature." Following this, the first essay presents Hume's thoughts on the "delicacy of taste and passion," exploring how sensitivity to both beauty and adversity shapes human experience, emphasizing that while high sensitivity can lead to greater pleasures and pains, it is preferable to cultivate a refined taste for the arts to balance one's emotional state. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Contents:

Biographical introduction

Of the delicacy of taste and passion

Of the liberty of the press

That politics may be reduced to a science

Of the first principles of government

Of the origin of government

Of the independency of Parliament

Whether the British government inclines more to absolute monarchy or to a republic

Of parties in general

Of the parties of Great Britain

Of superstition and enthusiasm

Of the dignity or meanness of human nature

Of civil liberty

Of eloquence.

Credits:

Produced by Andrea Ball & Marc D'Hooghe

Notes:

Reading ease score: 46.1 (College-level). Difficult to read.

Wikipedia page about this book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essays,_Moral,_Political,_and_Literary

Release date is 2011-05-17