David Hume's Political Theory

David Hume's Political Theory PDF Author: Neil McArthur
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1442638648
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
David Hume (1711-1776) is perhaps best known for his treatises on problems of epistemology, skepticism, and causation. A less familiar side of his intellectual output is his work on legal and political theory. David Hume's Political Theory brings together Hume's diverse writings on law and government, collected and examined with a view to revealing the philosopher's coherent and persuasive theory of politics. Through close textual analysis, Neil McArthur suggests that the key to Hume's political theory lies in its distinction between barbarous and civilized government. Throughout the study, the author explores Hume's argument that a society's progress from barbarism to civilization depends on the legal and political system by which it is governed. Ultimately, McArthur demonstrates that the skepticism apparent in much of Hume's work does not necessarily tie him to a strict conservative ideology; rather, Hume's political theory is seen to emphasize many liberal virtues as well. Based on a new conception of Hume's political philosophy, this is a groundbreaking work and a welcome addition to the existing literature.

David Hume's Political Theory

David Hume's Political Theory PDF Author: Neil McArthur
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1442638648
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book

Book Description
David Hume (1711-1776) is perhaps best known for his treatises on problems of epistemology, skepticism, and causation. A less familiar side of his intellectual output is his work on legal and political theory. David Hume's Political Theory brings together Hume's diverse writings on law and government, collected and examined with a view to revealing the philosopher's coherent and persuasive theory of politics. Through close textual analysis, Neil McArthur suggests that the key to Hume's political theory lies in its distinction between barbarous and civilized government. Throughout the study, the author explores Hume's argument that a society's progress from barbarism to civilization depends on the legal and political system by which it is governed. Ultimately, McArthur demonstrates that the skepticism apparent in much of Hume's work does not necessarily tie him to a strict conservative ideology; rather, Hume's political theory is seen to emphasize many liberal virtues as well. Based on a new conception of Hume's political philosophy, this is a groundbreaking work and a welcome addition to the existing literature.

David Hume's Political Theory

David Hume's Political Theory PDF Author: Neil McArthur
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 0802093353
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
David Hume's Political Theory brings together Hume's diverse writings on law and government, collected and examined with a view to revealing the philosopher's coherent and persuasive theory of politics.

David Hume's Political Theory

David Hume's Political Theory PDF Author: Neil McArthur
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781442631441
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
David Hume's Political Theory brings together Hume's diverse writings on law and government, collected and examined with a view to revealing the philosopher's coherent and persuasive theory of politics.

David Hume's Political Economy

David Hume's Political Economy PDF Author: Margaret Schabas
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134362501
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 393

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Book Description
Hume’s Political Discourses (1752) won immediate acclaim and positioned him as an authoritative figure on the subject of political economy. This volume of thirteen new essays definitively establishes the central place of political economy in Hume’s intellectual endeavor, as well as the profound and far-reaching influence of his theories on Enlightenment discourse and practice. A major strength of this collection is that the contributors come from a diverse set of fields – philosophy, economics, political science, history and literature. This promotes a comprehensive reading of Hume’s political economy, taking into account his entire set of writings and correspondence, in a way that captures his polymathic genius. Hume’s analyses of trade and commerce not only delve into the institutions of money and markets, but also human agency, the role of reason and the passions, manners and social mores. Hume sought general principles but also concrete applications, whether he grappled with the problem of economic development (Scotland and Ireland), with the debates on luxury consumption (France), or with the mounting public debt (England). This book is a key resource for students and researchers in the areas of economic and political philosophy, history of economic and political theory, and the history of ideas.

Hume's Politics

Hume's Politics PDF Author: Andrew Sabl
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691168172
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
Hume's Politics provides a comprehensive examination of David Hume's political theory, and is the first book to focus on Hume's monumental History of England as the key to his distinctly political ideas. Andrew Sabl argues that conventions of authority are the main building blocks of Humean politics, and explores how the History addresses political change and disequilibrium through a dynamic treatment of coordination problems. Dynamic coordination, as employed in Hume's work, explains how conventions of political authority arise, change, adapt to new social and economic conditions, improve or decay, and die. Sabl shows how Humean constitutional conservatism need not hinder--and may in fact facilitate--change and improvement in economic, social, and cultural life. He also identifies how Humean liberalism can offer a systematic alternative to neo-Kantian approaches to politics and liberal theory. At once scholarly and accessibly written, Hume's Politics builds bridges between political theory and political science. It treats issues of concern to both fields, including the prehistory of political coordination, the obstacles that must be overcome in order for citizens to see themselves as sharing common political interests, the close and counterintuitive relationship between governmental authority and civic allegiance, the strategic ethics of political crisis and constitutional change, and the ways in which the biases and injustices endemic to executive power can be corrected by legislative contestation and debate.

David Hume’s Humanity

David Hume’s Humanity PDF Author: S. Yenor
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137539593
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
Scott Yenor argues that David Hume's reputation as a skeptic is greatly exaggerated and that Hume's skepticism is a moment leading Hume to defend common life philosophy and the humane commercial republic. Gentle, humane virtues reflect the proper reaction to the complex mixture of human faculties that define the human condition.

An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals

An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals PDF Author: David Hume
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Conduct of life
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description


The Infidel and the Professor

The Infidel and the Professor PDF Author: Dennis C. Rasmussen
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691192286
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
Dearest friends -- The cheerful skeptic (1711-1749) -- Encountering Hume (1723-1749) -- A budding friendship (1750-1754) -- The historian and the Kirk (1754-1759) -- Theorizing the moral sentiments (1759) -- Fêted in France (1759-1766) -- Quarrel with a wild philosopher (1766-1767) -- Mortally sick at sea (1767-1775) -- Inquiring into the Wealth of Nations (1776) -- Dialoguing about natural religion (1776) -- A philosopher's death (1776) -- Ten times more abuse (1776-1777) -- Smith's final years in Edinburgh (1777-1790) -- Hume's My Own Life and Smith's Letter from Adam Smith, LL. D. to William Strahan, Esq

Hume and Machiavelli

Hume and Machiavelli PDF Author: Frederick G. Whelan
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 9780739106310
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description
Although there are myriad references to Machiavelli's work within Hume's writing, a deeper connection between the two has never been fully explored. Whelan uncovers extensive Machiavellian dimensions throughout Hume's work, illustrating numerous parallels in both theorists' treatment of such issues as human nature, historical method, and political ethics. While at first such a comparison may be startling, Whelan argues convincingly that Hume's writing, commonly regarded as moderate and amiable, is indeed a locus of realist liberal political theory.

David Hume's Theory of Mind

David Hume's Theory of Mind PDF Author: Daniel E. Flage
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429640048
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
This book, first published in 1990, is a detailed examination of David Hume’s Treatise of Human Nature. It shows that the theory of mind developed in the Trestise is a thread which ties together many of the seemingly unrelated philosophical issues discussed in the work. Hume’s primary objective was to defend a ‘bundle theory’ of mind, and, through a close examination of the texts, this book provides a thorough account of how Hume understood this theory and the problems he discovered with it.