Hume and the Politics of Enlightenment

This work explores Hume's Socratic turn to moral and political philosophy as a response to the crisis of radical questioning.

Thomas W. Merrill (Author)

9781107108707, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 23 July 2015

212 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.48 kg

'This book portrays a Hume of precipices and paradoxes: a fearless skeptic devoted to the theory and practice of political moderation and the broker of an innovative, unlikely alliance between modern philosophers and a prudent middle class, in support of commerce and the rule of law. While it will not convince everyone and will start a debate rather than ending it, this highly original, forcefully written, ingenious, and insightful book ranks immediately among the indispensable works on Hume's political thought. It establishes Merrill not only as one of the brightest Hume scholars of his generation but as a striking new voice in political theory.' Andrew Sabl, Yale University, Connecticut

'Methinks I am like a man, who having narrowly escap'd shipwreck', David Hume writes in A Treatise of Human Nature, 'has yet the temerity to put out to sea in the same leaky weather-beaten vessel, and even carries his ambition so far as to think of compassing the globe'. With these words, Hume begins a memorable depiction of the crisis of philosophy and his turn to moral and political philosophy as the path forward. In this groundbreaking work, Thomas W. Merrill shows how Hume's turn is the core of his thought, linking Hume's metaphysical and philosophical crisis to the moral-political inquiries of his mature thought. Merrill shows how Hume's comparison of himself to Socrates in the introduction to the Treatise illuminates the dramatic structure and argument of the book as a whole, and he traces Hume's underappreciated argument about the political role of philosophy in the Essays.

Introduction
1. Hume's Socratism
2. Calling philosophy down from the heavens
3. Turning to the human things
4. Investigating morality and politics
5. Hume's cultural revolution: the Essays, part 1
6. The education of the honest gentlemen: the Essays, part 2
Epilogue.

Subject Areas: Political science & theory [JPA], History of ideas [JFCX], Social & political philosophy [HPS], Ethics & moral philosophy [HPQ], Western philosophy, from c 1900 - [HPCF], Philosophy [HP]