A Treatise of Human Nature

Being an Attempt to Introduce the Experimental Method of Reasoning into Moral Subjects

David Hume
Edited by David Fate Norton and Mary J. Norton

Oxford Philosophical Texts

Part of the Oxford Philosophical Texts series
This is the first edition of the Treatise designed to help undergraduates gain access to the masterpiece of philosophy
Student aids found in the book are unique to this text and include a comprehensive introduction by a well-known Hume scholar, annotations, a glossary, guidance on further reading and a complete and reliable index to the Treatise.
Includes Hume's own Abstract of the Treatise
Text incorporates all of Hume's own corrections and restores his spelling.

A Treatise of Human Nature

Being an Attempt to Introduce the Experimental Method of Reasoning into Moral Subjects

David Hume
Edited by David Fate Norton and Mary J. Norton

Description

A Treatise of Human Nature (1739-40), David Hume's comprehensive attempt to base philosophy on a new, observationally grounded study of human nature, is one of the most important texts in Western philosophy. It is also the focal point of current attempts to understand 18th-century philosophy.

The Treatise first explains how we form such concepts as cause and effect, external existence, and personal identity, and to form compelling but unconfirmable beliefs in the entities represented by these concepts. It then offers a novel account of the passions, explains freedom and necessity as they apply to human choices and actions, and concludes with detailed explanations of how we distinguish between virtue and vice and of the different kinds of virtue. Hume's Abstract of the Treatise, also included in the volume, outlines his 'chief argument' regarding our conception of, and belief in, cause and effect.

The texts printed in this volume are those of the critical edition of Hume's philosophical works now being published by the Clarendon Press. The volume includes a substantial introduction explaining the aims of the Treatise as a whole and of each of its ten parts, extensive annotations, a glossary of terms, a comprehensive index, and suggestions for further reading.

A Treatise of Human Nature

Being an Attempt to Introduce the Experimental Method of Reasoning into Moral Subjects

David Hume
Edited by David Fate Norton and Mary J. Norton

Oxford Philosophical Texts

PART 1: INTRODUCTORY MATERIAL
How to Use this Book
List of Abbreviations
Editor's Introduction
Hume's Early years and Education
A Treatise of Human Nature
The Experimental Method and the Science of Human Nature
Book 1: Of the Understanding
Book 1 part 1: The Elements of the Mental World
Perceptions
Relations
Abstract Ideas
Book 1 Part 2: The Ideas of Space and Time
Book 1 Part 3: Knowledge, Probability, Belief, and Causation
Relations Revisited
The Relation of Causation
Causes and Causal Reasoning
Experience and Belief
Belief in the Uniformity of Nature
The Idea of Necessary Connection
Book 1 Part 4: Forms of Scepticism
External Objects
Enduring Selves and Personal Identity
The Conclusion of Book 1
Book 2: Of the passions
The Productive Passions
The Responsive Passions
Book 2 Part 1: The Indirect Passions of Pride and Humility
The 'very essence' of Virtue and Beauty
Unexercised Powers
Sympathy
Book 2 Part 2: The Indirect Passions of Love and Hatred
Passions and the Principles of Association
The Compound Passions
Passions and Relations
Dispositions
Book 2 part 3: The Direct Passions and the Will
The Will and its Influences
The Direct Passions
Book 3: Of Morals
Book 3 Part 1: The Source of Moral Distinctions
The Failure of Reason
Moral Sentiments
Book 3 Part 2: The Artificial Virtues
Motives and Moral Qualities
Justice
Additional Artificial Virtues
Book 3 Part 3: Natural Virtues and Natural Abilities
Natural Virtues
Natural Abilities
The Conclusion of Book 3
The Abstract and the Early Reception of the Treatise
Supplementary Reading
A Note on the Texts of this Edition
PART 2: THE TEXT
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Introduction
Book 1: Of the Understanding
Part 1: Of ideas, their origin, composition, connexion, abstraction, etc.
Sect. 1: Of the origin of our ideas
Sect. 2: Division of the subject
Sect. 3: Of the ideas of the memory and imagination
Sect. 4: Of the connexion of association of ideas
Sect. 5. Of relations
Sect. 6 Of modes and substances
Sect. 7: Of abstract ideas
Part 2: Of ideas of space and time
Sect. 1: Of the infinite divisibility of our ideas of space and time
Sect. 2: Of the infinite divisibility of space and time
Sect. 3. Of the other qualities of our ideas of space and time
Sect. 4. Objections answered
Sect. 5: The same subject continued
Sect. 6: Of the idea of existence and of external existence
Part 3: of knowledge and probability
Sect. 1: Of knowledge
Sect. 2. Of probability; and of the idea of cause and effect
Sect. 3: Why a cause is always necessary
Sect. 4: Of the component parts of our reasonings concerning cause and effect
Sect. 5: Of the impressions of the senses and memory
Section. 6: Of the inference from the impression to the idea
Sect. 7: Of the nature of the idea or belief
Sect. 8: Of the causes of belief
Sect. 9: Of the effects of other relations and other habits
Sect 10. Of the influence of belief
Sect. 11: Of the probability of chances
Sect. 12: Of the probability of causes
Sect. 13: Of unphilosophical probability
Sect. 14: Of the idea of necessary connexion
Sect. 15: Rules by which to judge of causes and effects
Sect. 16: Of the reason of animals
Part 4: Of the sceptical and other systems of philosophy
Sect. 1: Of scepticism with regard to reason
Sect. 2: Of scepticism with regard to the senses
Sect. 3. Of the ancient philosophy
Sect 4. Of the modern philosophy
Sect. 5: Of the immateriality of the soul
Sect. 6: Of personal identity
Sect. 7: Conclusion of this book
Book 2: Of the Passions
Part 1: Of pride and humility
Sect. 1: Division of the subject
Sect. 2: Of pride and humility; their objects and causes
Sect. 3: Whence these objects and causes are derived
Sect. 4: Of the relations of impressions and ideas
Sect. 5: Of the influence of these relations on pride and humility
Sect. 6: Limitations of this system
Sect. 7: Of vice and virtue
Sect. 8: Of beauty and deformity
Sect. 9: Of external advantages and disadvantages
Sect. 10: Of property and riches
Sect. 11: Of the love of fame
Sect. 12: Of the pride and humility of animals
Part 2: Of love and hatred
Sect. 1: Of the objects and causes of love and hatred
Sect. 2: Experiments to confirm this system
Sect. 3: Difficulties solved
Sect. 4: Of the love of relations
Sect. 5: Of our esteem for the rich and powerful
Sect 6: Of benevolence and anger
Sect. 7: Of compassion
Sect. 8: Of malice and envy
Sect. 9: Of the mixture of benevolence and anger with compassion and malice
Sect. 10. Of respect and contempt
Sect. 11: Of the amorous passion, or love betwixt the sexes
Sect. 12: Of the love and hatred of animals
Part 3: Of the will and direct passions
Sect. 1: Of liberty and necessity
Sect. 2: The same subject continued
Sect. 3: Of the influencing motives of the will
Sect. 4: Of the causes of the violent passions
Sect. 5: Of the effects of custom
Sect. Of the influence of the imagination on passions
Sect. 7: Of contiguity and distance in space and time
Sect. 8: The same subject continued
Sect. 9: Of the direct passions
Sect. 10: Of curiosity, or the love of truth
Book 3: Of Morals
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Part 1: Of virtue and vice in general
Sect. 1: Moral distinctions not derived from reason
Sect. 2: Moral distinctions derived from a moral sense
Part 2: Of justice and injustice
Sect. 1: Justice, whether a natural or artificial virtue?
Sect. 2: Of the origin of justice and property
Sect. 3: Of the rules, which determine property
Sect. 4: Of the transference of property by consent
Sect. 5: Of the obligation of Hume conference flyer, Cambridge Sept 00 AP 14/10/00
Sect. 6: Some farther reflections concerning justice and injustice
Sect. 7: Of the origin of government
Sect. 8: Of the source of allegiance
Sect. 9: Of the measures of allegiance
Sect. 10: Of the objects of allegiance
Sect. 11: Of the laws of nations
Sect. 12: Of chastity and modesty
Part 3: Of the other virtues and vices
Sect. 1: Of the origin of the natural virtues and vices
Sect. 2: Of greatness of mind
Sect. 3. Of goodness and benevolence
Sect. 4: Of natural abilities
Sect. 5: Some farther reflections concerning the natural virtues
Sect. 6: Conclusion of this book
Appendix
An Abstract of ... A Treatise of Human Nature
PART 3 SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL
Editors' Annotations
Annotations to the Treatise
Annotations to the Abstract
Glossary
References
Index

A Treatise of Human Nature

Being an Attempt to Introduce the Experimental Method of Reasoning into Moral Subjects

David Hume
Edited by David Fate Norton and Mary J. Norton

Oxford Philosophical Texts

Author Information

David Hume

Edited by David Fate Norton, FRSC, Macdonald Professor of Moral Philosophy Emeritus, McGill University, and Mary J. Norton, independent scholar

A Treatise of Human Nature

Being an Attempt to Introduce the Experimental Method of Reasoning into Moral Subjects

David Hume
Edited by David Fate Norton and Mary J. Norton

Oxford Philosophical Texts

Reviews and Awards

These new Oxford University Press editions have been meticulously collated from various exatant versions. Each text has an excellent introduction including an overview of Hume's thought and an account of his life and times. Even the difficult, and rarely commented-on, chapters on space and time are elucidated. There are also useful notes on the text and glossary. These scholarly new editions are ideally adapted for a whole range of readers, from beginners to experts. - Jane O'Grady, Catholic Herald,

One of the greatest of all philosophical works, covering knowledge, imaginatio, emotion, morality and justice. Hume is down-to-earth, capable of putting other, pretentious philosophers down, but deeply sceptical even about his own reasoning. Baroness Warnock, The List, The Week -