ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of the book. The book outlines the principal theses and motivations of David Hume's theory of science. Hume thought of mental phenomena as natural events, the laws and principles of which could be investigated from 'a cautious observation of human life'. The book considers the extent to which the expectations of the philosophers are fulfilled in Hume's works, and, in particular, in the Treatise. It expresses that there is some consistent sense to be made of Hume's general remarks about causation and causal explanation and his considered characterisation of his preferred mode of scientific explanation in terms of Newtonian laws and forces. Hume characterises his conclusion as hypothetical, and as a 'very intelligible' proposition to do not with the mere description of natural regularities, but with an unobservable principle of human nature.
