Vol. 7 — October 2026
Cover of A Treatise of Human Nature

A Treatise of Human Nature

David Hume · English

A Treatise of Human Nature is David Hume's first and most extensive philosophical work, published anonymously in 1739 and 1740, when he was still in his twenties.

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Pagera Editor's Note

A Treatise of Human Nature is David Hume's first and most extensive philosophical work, published anonymously in 1739 and 1740, when he was still in his twenties. It aims to build a science of human nature on experience and observation. Book I, Of the Understanding, traces all ideas to impressions, explains causal inference as the product of custom rather than reason, and ends in skepticism about the external world and the self. Book II, Of the Passions, treats pride, humility, love, hatred, and the will. Book III, Of Morals, grounds virtue and vice in sentiment and treats justice as an artificial virtue arising from convention.

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