In his writings, David Hume set out to bridge the gap between the learned world of the academy and the marketplace of polite society. This collection, drawing largely on his Essays Moral, Political, and Literary (1776 edition), which was even more popular than his famous Treatise of Human Nature, comprehensively shows how far he succeeded.
From `Of Essay Writing' to `Of the Rise and Progress of the Arts and Sciences' Hume embraces a staggering range of social, cultural, political, demographic, and historical concerns. With the scope typical of the Scottish Enlightenment, he charts the state of civil society, manners, morals, and taste, and the development of political economy in the mid-eighteenth century. These essays represent not only those areas where Hume's arguments are revealingly typical of his day, but also where he is strikingly innovative in a period already famous for its great thinkers.
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Introduction ; Note on the Text ; Select Bibliography ; Chronology ; 1. Of Essay Writing ; 2. Of the Middle Station of Life ; 3. Of the Delicacy of Taste and Passion ; 4. That Politics may be Reduced to a Science ; 5. Of the First Principles of Government ; 6. Of the Origin of Government ; 7. Of the Parties of Great Britain ; 8. Of Superstition and Enthusiasm ; 9. Of the Dignity or Meanness of Human Nature ; 10. Of Civil Liberty ; 11. Of the Rise and Progress of the Arts and Sciences ; 12. The Epicurean ; 13. The Stoic ; 14. The Platonist ; 15. The Sceptic ; 16. Of National Characters ; 17. Of Tragedy ; 18. Of the Standard of Taste ; 19. Of Commerce ; 20. Of Refinement in the Arts ; 21. Of Interest ; 22. Of the Balance of Trade ; 23. Of Public Credit ; 24. Of Some Remarkable Customs ; 25. Of the Populousness of Ancient Nations ; 26. Of the Original Contract ; 27. Of the Protestant Succession ; 28. Idea of a Perfect Commonwealth ; 29. On Suicide ; 30. On the Immortality of the Soul
