A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume

"A Treatise of Human Nature" by David Hume is a philosophical work published between 1739-40. Inspired by Newton's scientific achievements, Hume seeks to apply experimental methods to human psychology. He argues that passions, not reason, drive human behavior and that our beliefs about cause and effect rest on habit rather than logic. Hume presents the famous problem of induction, defends sentiment-based morality, and controversially declares that "reason is, and ought only to be the slave to the passions." This foundational text challenges rationalist philosophy through empirical investigation. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

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About this eBook

Author Hume, David, 1711-1776
Title A Treatise of Human Nature
Note Wikipedia page about this book: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Treatise_of_Human_Nature
Credits Col Choat and David Widger
Reading Level Reading ease score: 47.0 (College-level). Difficult to read.
Language English
LoC Class B: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion
Subject Knowledge, Theory of
Category Text
EBook-No. 4705
Release Date
Most Recently Updated Jun 10, 2025
Copyright Status Public domain in the USA.
Downloads 4686 downloads in the last 30 days.
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