A Treatise of Human Nature: Being an Attempt to Introduce the Experimental… (original 1739; edição 1985)

Tried twice, never got far. Maybe a sensation when first published, but now of only historical interest - for those who have lots of time, which I don't, and who have never come across Oriental philosophies, which I have.. Moreover, language changes, so it's often hard to tell what the author actually meant when using words like 'extension'; and where the words are clear, the argument is sometimes spurious. This time I stopped after reading "We can form no idea of a mountain without a valley". I very well can. ( )

FG-5

Pročitao cirke pola knjige za faks.

This book changed my life! At least, when I read it as an undergraduate, it reshaped my worldview. Hume develops a highly approachable idea of philosophical skepticism in the first part of this book. Having argued for this skepticism, however, he proceeds to develop one of the most influential philosophical systems of the enlightenment. Hume shows that, even if we have no clear knowledge of the truth or falsity of most of our ideas, we still retain certain characteristic patterns of belief (cause is an example) that we are not able to escape. Hume prepares the ground for Kant. I would recommend this book for those who feel something of the force of skepticism but who feel that they have not yet seen how far it can be taken or what (surprisingly commonsensical) implications result.

Beware: I had a friend in college who was incensed by Hume's profusion, of commas, in the strangest places. The prose style of the eighteenth century can be a challenge for the uninitiated. (But you learn fast!) ( )

This book is a technical treatise on Human Nature. It is split up into three books which is further split into parts and sections. Using reason as his guide, Hume builds up human nature and quells any ideas of a divinely inspired government and stuff like that.

His main idea is probably that Causation is not necessarily the reason for some action, though since this book is so massive I can't really sum it up now without going point to point and wasting my time.

This book was originally published back in 1737 I believe, or sometime around there so they haven't really developed spelling, and the commas are everywhere, but it doesn't really distract from the book too badly.

I would certainly read this again to catch any parts of his ideas that I might have missed. ( )