Hume: Political Essays

A fully annotated edition of Hume's most important political essays.

David Hume (Author), Knud Haakonssen (Edited by)

9780521466394, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 7 July 1994

416 pages
21.6 x 14 x 2.3 cm, 0.57 kg

"This is a new and welcome edition to the Cambridge Texts in the HIistory of Political Thought series....Haakonssen's introduction is clear and informative." Ethics

David Hume is commonly known as one of the greatest philosophers to write in English. He was also one of the foremost political and economic theorists and one of the finest historians of the eighteenth century. His political essays reflect the entire range of his intellectual engagement with politics - as political philosophy, political observation and political history - and function as an extension of and supplement to works such as his Treatise of Human Nature and his History of England. The twenty-seven most important essays are presented in this fully annotated edition, together with excerpts from the History of England which illuminate their context. This major addition to the Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought will be of interest to students and scholars of politics, philosophy and the history of ideas.

1. Of the liberty of the press
2. That politics may be reduced to a science
3. Of the first principles of government
4. Of the origin of government
5. Of the independency of Parliament
6. Whether the British government inclines more to absolute monarchy, or to a republic
7. Of parties in general
8. Of the parties of Great Britain
9. Of superstition and enthusiasm
10. Of civil liberty
11. Of the rise and progress of the arts and sciences
12. Of national characters
13. Of commerce
14. Of refinement in the arts
15. Of money
16. Of interest
17. Of the balance of trade
18. Of the jealousy of trade
19. Of the balance of power
20. Of taxes: 21. Of public credit
22. Of some remarkable customs
23. Of the original contract
24. Of passive obedience
25. Of the coalition of parties
26. Of the Protestant succession
27. Idea of a perfect commonwealth
Appendix.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX]