David Hume: 206 books

MAN, born in a family, is compelled to maintain society, from necessity, from natural inclination, and from habit. The same creature, in his farther progress, is engaged to establish political society, in order to administer justice; without which there can be no peace among them, nor safety, nor mutual...

POLITICAL writers have established it as a maxim, that, in contriving any system of government, and fixing the several checks and controuls of the constitution, every man ought to be supposed a knave, and to have no other end, in all his actions, than private interest. By this interest we must govern...

THERE are certain sects, which secretly form themselves in the learned world, as well as factions in the political; and though sometimes they come not to an open rupture, they give a different turn to the ways of thinking of those who have taken part on either side. The most remarkable of this kind are...

THOSE who employ their pens on political subjects, free from party-rage, and party-prejudices, cultivate a science, which, of all others, contributes most to public utility, and even to the private satisfaction of those who addict themselves to the study of it. I am apt, however, to entertain a suspicion,...

Moral philosophy, or the science of human nature, may be treated after two different manners; each of which has its peculiar merit, and may contribute to the entertainment, instruction, and reformation of mankind. The one considers man chiefly as born for action; and as influenced in his measures...

OF all men, that distinguish themselves by memorable achievements, the first place of honour seems due to LEGISLATORS and founders of states, who transmit a system of laws and institutions to secure the peace, happiness, and liberty of future generations. The influence of useful inventions in the arts...

WERE the BRITISH government proposed as a subject of speculation, one would immediately perceive in it a source of division and party, which it would be almost impossible for it, under any administration, to avoid. The just balance between the republican and monarchical part of our constitution is really,...

Nothing is more usual and more natural for those, who pretend to discover anything new to the world in philosophy and the sciences, than to insinuate the praises of their own systems, by decrying all those, which have been advanced before them. And indeed were they content with lamenting that ignorance,...

An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding is the thesis of a thinker who was a scientist, psychologist, metaphysician, and skeptic who continues to fascinate contemporary minds. The product of both youthful fire and mature consideration, the Enquiry, "contain[s] everything of Consequence relating...

Après avoir joint la compagnie que je trouvais rassemblée dans la bibliothèque de Cléanthe, Déméa fit quelques  compliments à Cléanthe du soin qu’il prenait de mon éducation et de la constance inébranlable avec laquelle il ...

Filo, Cleantes y Demea, los tres personajes de estos Diálogos..., no son solamente artificios del ingenio y la prudencia del autor, sino que representan el drama del hombre de su tiempo y el del hombre mismo que los ha imaginado y les da vida a lo largo del debate: los hombres modernos se encuentran...