David Hume
The skeptical Scottish genius who argued that human reason is the slave of passion, reshaping modern philosophy.
1711–1776 (age 65)·Scottish philosopher, historian, economist and essayist·Birthday: May 7
Biography
David Hume, born in Edinburgh, aimed to be the Newton of the human mind. A brilliant and precocious thinker, he penned his monumental 'A Treatise of Human Nature' while still in his twenties, a work he later said 'fell dead-born from the press.' Undeterred, he refined his ideas into more accessible essays, arguing that all knowledge springs from experience and that our cherished notions of cause and effect are merely habits of thought. His radical empiricism and skeptical approach to religion and miracles made him controversial in his lifetime, costing him academic posts but earning him a central place in the Enlightenment's intellectual ferment. Hume worked as a librarian, a diplomat, and a historian, his sharp prose dissecting politics, economics, and taste with equal clarity. His friendship with Adam Smith and his influence on Immanuel Kant, who said Hume woke him from his 'dogmatic slumber,' cement his status as a titan of Western thought.
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David's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1711Born
1716Started school
1724Became a teenager
1727Could drive
1729Could vote
1732Turned 21
1741Turned 30
1751Turned 40
1761Turned 50
1771Turned 60
1776Died at 65
Key Achievements
- Authored 'A Treatise of Human Nature' (1739–40), a foundational text of empiricist philosophy and modern psychology.
- Developed the 'problem of induction,' a fundamental critique of how we justify beliefs about the unobserved.
- Wrote the widely read six-volume 'The History of England', which was a bestseller in his lifetime.
- His philosophical arguments concerning causality and the self continue to be central subjects of academic debate.
Did You Know?
He briefly served as the Keeper of the Advocate's Library in Edinburgh, which later became the National Library of Scotland.
He was known for his cheerful and sociable personality, earning the nickname 'le bon David' (the good David) in Parisian salons.
His candid autobiography, 'My Own Life', was published posthumously by his friend Adam Smith.
“Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.”
