A Treatise of Human Nature
Being an Attempt to Introduce the Experimental Method of Reasoning into Moral Subjects
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  • Print Publication Date: July 15, 2023
  • eBook Publication Date: June 15, 2023
  • ISBN: 9781554811175 / 1554811171
  • 522 pages; 6" x 9"

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A Treatise of Human Nature

Being an Attempt to Introduce the Experimental Method of Reasoning into Moral Subjects

  • Print Publication Date: July 15, 2023
  • eBook Publication Date: June 15, 2023
  • ISBN: 9781554811175 / 1554811171
  • 522 pages; 6" x 9"

In his autobiography, David Hume famously noted that A Treatise of Human Nature “fell dead-born from the press.” Yet it is now widely regarded as one of the greatest philosophical works written in the English language. Within, Hume offers an empirically informed account of human nature, addressing a range of topics such as space, time, causality, the external world, personal identity, passions, freedom, necessity, virtue, and vice. This edition includes not only the full text of the Treatise but also Hume’s summarizing Abstract, as well as selections drawn from critical book reviews which showcase the work’s reception in Hume’s own time. Angela Coventry’s expert introduction and annotations serve to contextualize the book’s themes and arguments for modern readers.

Introduction
David Hume: A Brief Chronology
A Note on the Texts

A Treatise of Human Nature

  • Book 1: Of the Understanding
  • Book 2: Of the Passions
  • Book 3: Of Morals
  • Appendix to the Treatise

Appendix A: The Abstract of the Treatise (1740)

Appendix B: From Review of Hume’s Treatise, History of the Works of the Learned (1739)

Appendix C: French Book Reviews of Hume’s Treatise of Human Nature (1740-41)

Works Cited and Select Bibliography

Index

Angela Coventry is Professor of Philosophy at Portland State University and author of Hume’s Theory of Causation: A Quasi-Realist Interpretation and Hume: A Guide for the Perplexed. She has served as Vice President of the Hume Society and as co-editor of the journal Hume Studies.

  • • The full text of Hume’s three-volume Treatise, with contextualizing annotations.
  • • Numbering (by Book, Part, Section, and Paragraph) has been added, for ease of reference.
  • • Includes Hume’s subsequent Abstract, summarizing the book’s arguments.
  • • Also includes a selection of contemporaneous reviews illustrating the book’s critical reception.

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