Published in 1748, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding is Scottish empiricist philosopher David Hume's distillation of his mature philosophy. Addressing themes including the limits of human understanding, the compatibility of free will with determinism, weaknesses in the foundations of religion, and the appeal of skepticism, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding is Hume's attempt to revise and clarify the ideas of his earlier A Treatise of Human Nature. A major work in the empiricist school of thought that included John Locke and George Berkeley, Hume's work influenced such later authors as Adam Smith, Immanuel Kant, and Jeremy Bentham. Controversial and widely debated since its publication, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding is a classic of empiricist philosophy whose questions remain as relevant today as ever.

"An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding" is a book by David Hume created as a revision of an earlier work, Hume's "A Treatise of Human Nature". The argument of the Enquiry proceeds by a series of incremental steps, separated into chapters which logically succeed one another. After expounding his epistemology, Hume explains how to apply his principles to specific topics. This book has proven highly influential, both in the years that would immediately follow and today. Immanuel Kant points to it as the book which woke him from his self-described "dogmatic slumber."

A PHILOSOPHICAL CLASSIC An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding is a celebrated philosophical work. It has inspired many subsequent philosophers, such as Immanuel Kant. DETAILS: Includes Illustrations of the Author and His Life

A landmark of Enlightenment thought, Hume's An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding is accompanied here by two shorter works that shed light on it: A Letter from a Gentleman to His Friend in Edinburgh, Hume's response to those accusing him of atheism, of advocating extreme skepticism, and of undermining the foundations of morality; and his Abstract of A Treatise of Human Nature, which anticipates discussions developed in the Enquiry.

David Hume was one of the greatest figures in the Scottish Enlightenment. He worked as a philosopher, economist, historian, and publicist. Emmanuel Kant wrote that Hume's contemporaries misunderstood him and that Hume failed to find acceptance during his modern era. Nevertheless, Hume’s ideas greatly influenced German classical philosophy, evolutionary theory, and evolutionary sociology. His concept of empiricism and machismo were some of his most significant theories. Hume's philosophy is considered a turning point from classical philosophy to the non-classical models of our modern age. A TREATISE OF HUMAN NATURE AN ABSTRACT OF A BOOK LATELY PUBLISHED ENTITLED A TREATISE OF HUMAN NATURE ETC. ESSAYS, MORAL, POLITICAL, AND LITERARY A LETTER FROM A GENTLEMAN TO HIS FRIEND IN EDINBURGH AN ENQUIRY CONCERNING HUMAN UNDERSTANDING A TRUE ACCOUNT OF THE BEHAVIOURS AND CONDUCT OF ARCHIBALD STEWART LETTER TO THE AUTHOR OF THE DELINEATION OF THE NATURE AND OBLIGATION OF MORALITY SCOTTICISMS FOUR DISSERTATIONS THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND DIALOGUES CONCERNING NATURAL RELIGION

A landmark of Enlightenment thought, Hume's An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding is accompanied here by two shorter works that shed light on it: A Letter from a Gentleman to His Friend in Edinburgh, Hume's response to those accusing him of atheism, of advocating extreme skepticism, and of undermining the foundations of morality; and his Abstract of A Treatise of Human Nature, which anticipates discussions developed in the Enquiry.