David Hume

David Hume

Scottish philosopher and historian, was born into a Protestant family. At age 23 he left for France where he wrote his "Treatise of human nature" that will have little success. His "Essay Concerning Human Understanding" gives him a certain notoriety on the continent. Having been a librarian in Edinburgh, he lived again in France from 1763 to 1766 where he frequented the salons of Paris and the Encyclopedists. He became friends with Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and then quarreled with him in 1769.

His philosophy is built around the empiricism that is a source of knowledge for human understanding. The study ...