Essays Moral, Political, Literary (LF ed.)

“We have Hume’s own word that the definitive statement of his philosophy is not to be found in the youthful Treatise of Human Nature but in the 1777 posthumous edition of his collected works entitled Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects. Yet a major part of this definitive collection, the Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary (a volume of near 600 pages, covering three decades of Hume’s career as a philosopher) has been largely ignored. The volume has rarely been in print, and the last critical edition was published in 1874-75. With this splendid, but inexpensive, new critical edition by Eugene Miller, the door is open to a richer notion of Hume’s conception of philosophy.” (Donald Livingston, Emory University). This edition contains the thirty-nine essays included in Essays, Moral, and Literary, that made up Volume I of the 1777 posthumous Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects. It also includes ten essays that were withdrawn or left unpublished by Hume for various reasons. The two most important were deemed too controversial for the religious climate of his time.
Essays Moral, Political, Literary, edited and with a Foreword, Notes, and Glossary by Eugene F. Miller, with an appendix of variant readings from the 1889 edition by T.H. Green and T.H. Grose, revised edition (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund 1987).
Copyright:
The copyright to this edition, in both print and electronic forms, is held by Liberty Fund, Inc.
People:
- Author: David Hume
- Editor: Eugene F. Miller
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Table of Contents
- FOREWORD
- EDITOR’S NOTE
- THE LIFE OF DAVID HUME, ESQ.
- PART I*: ESSAYS MORAL, POLITICAL, AND LITERARY
- ESSAY I: OF THE DELICACY OF TASTE AND PASSION*
- ESSAY II: OF THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS
- ESSAY III: THAT POLITICS MAY BE REDUCED TO A SCIENCE
- ESSAY IV: OF THE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT
- ESSAY V: OF THE ORIGIN OF GOVERNMENT
- ESSAY VI: OF THE INDEPENDENCY OF PARLIAMENTa
- ESSAY VII: WHETHER THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT INCLINES MORE TO ABSOLUTE MONARCHY, OR TO A REPUBLIC
- ESSAY VIII: OF PARTIES IN GENERAL
- ESSAY IX: OF THE PARTIES OF GREAT BRITAIN
- ESSAY X: OF SUPERSTITION AND ENTHUSIASM
- ESSAY XI: OF THE DIGNITY OR MEANNESS OF HUMAN NATUREa
- ESSAY XII: OF CIVIL LIBERTYa
- ESSAY XIII: OF ELOQUENCE
- ESSAY XIV: OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE ARTS AND SCIENCES
- ESSAY XV: THE EPICUREAN1
- ESSAY XVI: THE STOIC1
- ESSAY XVII: THE PLATONIST1
- ESSAY XVIII: THE SCEPTIC
- ESSAY XIX: OF POLYGAMY AND DIVORCES
- ESSAY XX: OF SIMPLICITY AND REFINEMENT IN WRITING
- ESSAY XXI: OF NATIONAL CHARACTERS
- ESSAY XXII: OF TRAGEDY
- ESSAY XXIII: OF THE STANDARD OF TASTE
- PART II*: ESSAYS MORAL, POLITICAL, AND LITERARY
- ESSAY I: OF COMMERCE
- ESSAY II: OF REFINEMENT IN THE ARTSa
- ESSAY III: OF MONEY
- ESSAY IV: OF INTEREST
- ESSAY V: OF THE BALANCE OF TRADE
- ESSAY VI: OF THE JEALOUSY OF TRADE
- ESSAY VII: OF THE BALANCE OF POWER
- ESSAY VIII: OF TAXES
- ESSAY IX: OF PUBLIC CREDIT
- ESSAY X: OF SOME REMARKABLE CUSTOMS
- ESSAY XI: OF THE POPULOUSNESS OF ANCIENT NATIONSa
- ESSAY XII: OF THE ORIGINAL CONTRACT
- ESSAY XIII: OF PASSIVE OBEDIENCE
- ESSAY XIV: OF THE COALITION OF PARTIES
- ESSAY XV: OF THE PROTESTANT SUCCESSION
- ESSAY XVI: IDEA OF A PERFECT COMMONWEALTH
- ESSAYS WITHDRAWN AND UNPUBLISHED
- ESSAY I: OF ESSAY-WRITING1
- ESSAY II: OF MORAL PREJUDICES1
- ESSAY III: OF THE MIDDLE STATION OF LIFE1
- ESSAY IV: OF IMPUDENCE AND MODESTY1
- ESSAY V: OF LOVE AND MARRIAGE1
- ESSAY VI: OF THE STUDY OF HISTORY1
- ESSAY VII: OF AVARICE1
- ESSAY VIII: A CHARACTER OF SIR ROBERT WALPOLE1
- ESSAY IX: OF SUICIDE1
- ESSAY X: OF THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL1
- VARIANT READINGS
- VARIANT READINGS TO PART I
- VARIANT READINGS TO PART II
- VARIANT READINGS TO ESSAYS WITHDRAWN AND UNPUBLISHED
- GLOSSARY