The History of England

David Hume

• Publisher: Laurus Book Society
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9780599890138
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Ethics & Moral Philosophy

The History of England (Hume) The History of England (1754–61) is David Hume's great work on the history of England, which he wrote in instalments while he was librarian to the Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh. It was published in six volumes in 1754, 1756, 1759, and 1761.

Hume conceived of philosophy as the inductive, experimental science of human nature. Taking the scientific method of the English physicist Sir Isaac Newton as his model and building on the epistemology of the English philosopher John Locke, Hume tried to describe how the mind works in acquiring what is called knowledge. He concluded that no theory of reality is possible; there can be no knowledge of anything beyond experience. Despite the enduring impact of his theory of knowledge, Hume seems to have considered himself chiefly as a moralist.
The moral sense school reached its fullest development in the works of two Scottish philosophers, Francis Hutcheson (1694–1746) and David Hume (1711–76). Hutcheson was concerned with showing, against the intuitionists, that moral judgment cannot be based on reason and therefore must be a matter…

Table of contents

• Introduction