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Essays and Treatises on Philosophical Subjects
Essays and Treatises on Philosophical Subjects Author:David Hume This is the first edition in over a century to present David Hume's Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, "Dissertation on the Passions," Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals, and Natural History of Religion in the format he intended: collected together in a single volume. Hume has suffered a fate unusual among great philosophers. His p... more »rincipal philosophical work is no longer published in the form in which he intended it to be read. It has been divided into separate parts, only some of which continue to be published. This volume repairs that neglect by presenting the four pieces that Hume in later life desired to "alone be regarded as containing [his] philosophical sentiments and principles" in the format he preferred, as a single volume with an organization that parallels that of his early Treatise of Human Nature. This edition's introduction comments on the historical origins and evolution of the four parts and draws attention to how they mutually inform and support one another. The text is based on the first (1758) edition of Hume's Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects to collect the four parts in their canonical arrangement. Notes advise the reader of the changes made in the final (1777) edition to have been prepared by Hume. This puts the reader in a position to see how the text changed over time and to view it in a form close to the one it would have had for those reading and criticizing it during Hume's prime. Excerpts from the work of some of Hume's most important contemporary critics are included as appendices. Hume's abundant references to ancient historians, geographers, poets, and philosophers?many of them now quite obscure?are rendered accessible in this volume through extensive textual notes and a bibliography of online sources.« less