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HUME ON ALLEGIANCE TO GOVERNMENT 395 Thinking of Hume as a state-of-nature theorist is also unwise because it may mislead the reader to think Hume identifies the state of nature (that mere theoretical construct) with the imag ined time before the formation of pre-civil society. In fact, he does not. The state of nature, as Hume uses the term ...
David Hume has two important insights into the origin of government; that it is often born out of warfare, and that once established there is a “perpetual struggle” within it between Liberty and Power (1777): Origin of Government.
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.
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 ...
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.
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?”
The government, which, in common appellation, receives the appellation of free, is that which admits of a partition of power among several members, whose united authority is no less, or is commonly greater than that of any monarch; but who, in the usual course of administration, must act by general and equal laws, that are previously known to ...
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