David Hume
Exposed the role of habit, sentiment, and human nature beneath claims of reason and certainty.
Life and thought
Challenges certainty through skepticism, habit, causation, emotion, morality, religion, and human nature.
David Hume is presented in the Thought archive through philosophy, scottish, scotland, enlightenment. The recorded life dates are 1711–1776. The profile connects this work to Empiricism, Ethics, Modern Philosophy, Western Philosophy.
The central questions gathered here concern induction problem, bundle theory, sentimentalism, causation as habit, skepticism. Together they show the recurring problems, methods, and distinctions that define this thinker’s contribution.
David Hume developed within an intellectual conversation shaped by Locke, Berkeley, Newtonian science. These names provide context for the traditions and problems surrounding the work; they do not imply simple agreement.
The surviving reading path begins with Treatise of Human Nature, Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. The recorded legacy extends toward Kant, Adam Smith, analytic philosophy, empiricism.
Five Defining Theories
The central ideas, methods, and arguments that give this thinker’s work its distinctive shape.
induction problem
A central idea in this thinker’s work, method, and intellectual legacy.
bundle theory
A central idea in this thinker’s work, method, and intellectual legacy.
sentimentalism
A central idea in this thinker’s work, method, and intellectual legacy.
causation as habit
A central idea in this thinker’s work, method, and intellectual legacy.
skepticism
A central idea in this thinker’s work, method, and intellectual legacy.
Life journey
A structured path through the verified context attached to this profile.
Context
1711–1776 · Scotland · Enlightenment
Intellectual formation
The recorded influences include Locke, Berkeley, Newtonian science.
Defining ideas
The profile centres on induction problem, bundle theory, sentimentalism, causation as habit, skepticism.
The work
A reading path through Treatise of Human Nature, Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
Lasting influence
The recorded influence reaches Kant, Adam Smith, analytic philosophy, empiricism.
In time
Major Works
Texts through which the thinker’s ideas entered the wider intellectual record.
Treatise of Human Nature
This work matters because it carries a central part of the thinker’s method, argument, or intellectual legacy into a form readers can examine directly.
Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
This work matters because it carries a central part of the thinker’s method, argument, or intellectual legacy into a form readers can examine directly.
Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
This work matters because it carries a central part of the thinker’s method, argument, or intellectual legacy into a form readers can examine directly.
Influence network
Trace the intellectual lineage into and beyond this thinker.
Selected quotations
Reason is the slave of the passions.
Custom is the great guide of human life.
Beauty is no quality in things themselves.
A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence.
Be a philosopher, but amid all your philosophy, be still a man.
Schools of thought
Empiricism
Explore the thinkers and ideas connected to this tradition.
Explore school E23 thinkersEthics
Explore the thinkers and ideas connected to this tradition.
Explore school M9 thinkersModern Philosophy
Explore the thinkers and ideas connected to this tradition.
Explore school W43 thinkersWestern Philosophy
Explore the thinkers and ideas connected to this tradition.
Explore schoolConnected Thinkers
Simone de Beauvoir
SharedEthics · Western Philosophy · Philosophy
View thinker →
Albert Camus
SharedEthics · Western Philosophy · Philosophy
View thinker →
Niccolò Machiavelli
SharedEthics · Western Philosophy
View thinker →
Hannah Arendt
SharedEthics · Western Philosophy
View thinker →
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
SharedWestern Philosophy · Philosophy
View thinker →
Michel Foucault
SharedWestern Philosophy · Philosophy
View thinker →Featured Debates
See how David Hume’s perspective changes when it meets another mind.
How Does the Digital Age Influence the Authenticity of Human Relationships?
In an era where digital communication is ubiquitous, the nature of human relationships has undergone significant transformation. This Thought.global debate explores how the digital age influences…
View Debate →
Can Artificial Intelligence Ever Truly Understand Human Emotions and Consciousness?
In this thought-provoking debate, we delve into one of the most intriguing questions of our era: Can artificial intelligence ever truly understand human emotions and consciousness?…
View Debate →
Is Technology Advancing Faster Than Our Ethical Ability to Manage It?
In an era marked by rapid technological advancements, questions arise about our ability to ethically manage these innovations. This debate brings together historical thinkers Blaise Pascal,…
View Debate →Continue the conversation with David Hume.
Test an assumption, explore an idea, or bring this perspective into dialogue with a council of other thinkers.