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When this opinion prevails among the generality of a state, or among those who have the force in their hands, it gives great security to any government. Right is of two kinds, right to power and right to property.
Nov 8, 2023 · An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding is a book by the Scottish empiricist philosopher David Hume, published in 1748. It was a revision of an earlier effort, Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature, published anonymously in London in 1739–40.
Hume sees all governments as the result of a struggle between authority and liberty, with the best of them achieving a balance between the two by implementing systems of “general laws.” Hume’s cautious approach to social change may fairly be called conservative.
- “In our reasonings concerning matter of fact, there are all imaginable degrees of assurance, from the highest certainty to the lowest species of moral evidence.
- “Be a philosopher; but, amidst all your philosophy, be still a man.” ― David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding.
- “Where am I, or what? From what causes do I derive my existence, and to what condition shall I return? ... I am confounded with all these questions, and begin to fancy myself in the most deplorable condition imaginable, environed with the deepest darkness, and utterly deprived of the use of every member and faculty.
- “The sweetest and most inoffensive path of life leads through the avenues of science and learning; and whoever can either remove any obstructions in this way, or open up any new prospect, ought so far to be esteemed a benefactor to mankind.”
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?”
This paper reveals connections between Hume's virtue ethics and his political philosophy by investigating two specific ques tions. First, is allegiance to government, as Hume understands it, a virtue of character like other virtues that Hume recognizes (such as justice and fidelity to promises)? Second, can Hume ac
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Aug 23, 2022 · Generally speaking, Hume’s answers to these questions emphasized an empirically grounded account of human nature for understanding politics; the significance of historical and political contexts; the roles of opinion, habits, and conventions in political life; political moderation; and the limits of reason and the role of the passions in ...
