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David HumeA Treatise of Human Nature
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1739A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Philosophical Context: Empiricism
In philosophy, David Hume is considered an empiricist, believing that knowledge is based on experimentation and observation through our senses. Throughout A Treatise of Human Nature, Hume not only presents his empiricist view of human knowledge, but also criticizes the rationalist tradition in Western philosophy. This tradition arguably started with the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, who argued that abstract reason gives an even better impression of reality than the impressions gained through our senses. Rationalism also had a powerful advocate in the 17th-century French philosopher René Descartes, who argued that a person is born already knowing several abstract concepts. Descartes and other rationalists also argued that the superior way of gaining knowledge is through logical deduction or abstract reasoning.
Empirical philosophers like Hume instead suggest that knowledge through the senses is the better—or even the only—way to develop knowledge. Through the influence of philosophers like Hume, empiricism would become the dominant philosophy of the Enlightenment. The mainstream thought of the Enlightenment would emphasize scientific observation and material experience over abstract reasoning and metaphysical topics like the nature of the soul. Enlightenment thought would follow Hume’s path by questioning the idea that laws and even morals can be rationalized through some kind of natural, universal law that can only be understood through abstract reasoning. Hume’s influence would likewise be felt in the philosophy of science. Like Hume, mainstream thought in science would consider topics like the existence and nature of the soul outside the scope of scientific investigation.
Historical Context: The Enlightenment
David Hume is considered one of the pivotal figures of the 17th- and 18th-century European intellectual movement often called “the Enlightenment.” Several factors contributed to the Enlightenment. One of these was the growing knowledge of non-European cultures, religions, and philosophies brought about by European exploration and colonization in the Americas and beyond, which opened up new avenues of thought and undermined the old Western idea of a “natural law” that applied to all of humanity. Another was the invention of the European printing press and the spread of universities, which helped create a “republic of letters” in which intellectuals across Europe and its colonies in the Americas could share and express ideas.
Although Hume’s A Treatise of Human Nature was not successful upon its release, it did prove to be an influential work in the Enlightenment. It was especially important in the context of the Scottish Enlightenment, which tended to focus more on empirical and experimental reasoning. Other key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment were Francis Hutcheson (1694-1746), whose A System of Moral Philosophy argued, like Hume, that our morals are based on evidence from our senses and experiences, and Adam Smith (1723-1790), a pivotal economist who wrote extensively about capitalism in The Wealth of Nations.
Hume’s A Treatise of Human Nature and other philosophical works fit with some of the themes of not only the Scottish Enlightenment, but the Enlightenment as a whole. First, Hume’s work, like that of many Enlightenment philosophers, emphasized empiricism, gaining knowledge through experiment and observation rather than abstract logic and reasoning. Second, Hume made rigid distinctions between philosophy that dealt with theological and supernatural topics such as the soul, and philosophy that dealt with more tangible matters like politics and the process of learning. Hume believed that only the latter topics were worth serious investigation. Finally, Hume's work fit within the Enlightenment trend toward skepticism, which means the perpetual challenging and questioning of long-established ideas, even something as basic as the idea of cause and effect.
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