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In a previously cited quotation Hume tells us that a combination of force and public opinion is required to keep a regime in power. In this essay Hume adds two more crucial insights into the origin and operation of governments: the first is that the earliest governments probably came about as a result of war with the victorious strongman ...
If Edmund Burke pondered over one of the key questions of political theory, “who guards us from the guardians?”, David Hume was pondering an equally difficult problem: “why is it so easy for the few in power to govern the many?”
Jan 20, 2024 · Nothing is more surprising than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few. In his profound and thought-provoking statement, philosopher David Hume reflects upon the astonishing phenomenon of how a small number of individuals manage to govern the masses effortlessly.
David Hume on the origin of government in warfare, and the “perpetual struggle” between Liberty and Power (1777)
Right is of two kinds, right to Power and right to Property. What prevalence opinion of the first kind has over mankind, may easily be understood, by observing the attachment which all nations have to their ancient government, and even to those names, which have had the sanction of antiquity.
An established government has an infinite advantage, by that very circumstance of its being established--the bulk of mankind being governed by authority, not reason, and never attributing authority to anything that has not the recommendation of antiquity.
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And after the decline of A thens, when the T hebans and L acedemonians disputed for sovereignty, we find, that the A thenians (as well as many other republics) always threw themselves into the lighter scale, and endeavoured to preserve the balance.
