David Hume's Enquiry concerning Human Understanding is the definitive statement of the greatest philosopher in the English language. His arguments in support of reasoning from experience, and against the "sophistry and illusion"of religiously inspired philosophical fantasies, caused controversy in the eighteenth century and are strikingly relevant today, when faith and science continue to clash. The Enquiry considers the origin and processes of human thought, reaching the stark conclusion that we can have no ultimate understanding of the physical world, or indeed our own minds. In either sphere we must depend on instinctive learning from experience, recognizing our animal nature and the limits of reason. Hume's calm and open-minded skepticism thus aims to provide a new basis for science, liberating us from the "superstition" of false metaphysics and religion. His Enquiry remains one of the best introductions to the study of philosophy, and his edition places it in its historical and philosophical context. - Publisher.
Record details
ISBN:0199549907 (pbk.)
ISBN:9780199549900 (pbk.)
ISBN:0199211582 (alk. paper)
ISBN:9780199211586 (alk. paper)
Physical Description:lxv, 238 pages ; 20 cm. print
Publisher:Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2007.
Content descriptions
Bibliography, etc. Note:
Includes bibliographical references (p. [lxi]-lxii) and indexes.
Formatted Contents Note:
[Part I.] Introduction. From ancient to modern cosmology -- From Aristotelian to Cartesian intelligibility -- Corpuscularianism, Locke, and Newton -- Free will, and the dangers of infidelity -- God's design, and human reason -- Inertness, Malebranche, and Berkely -- The human revolution -- [Part II.] An enquiry concerning human understanding. Of the different species of philosophy -- Of the origin of ideas -- Of probability -- Of the reason of animals -- Of miracles -- Of a particular providence and of a future state -- Of the academical or sceptical [sic] philosophy.
Book
