ABSTRACT
The Scotsman David Hume was not only a prominent essayist and leading historian but also one of the most influential of all philosophers. He first presented his system of thought in his monumental Treatise of Human Nature, published when he was twenty-eight years old. Later he reworked the material to make it more accessible, and the work that follows, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, has become the most widely-read statement of his ideas. Hume divided all meaningful statements into two categories: relations of ideas and matters of fact. Relations of ideas are known to be true independent of experience. Matters of fact can only be known to be true by experience. Moral philosophy, or the science of human nature, may be treated after two different manners; each of which has its peculiar merit, and may contribute to the entertainment, instruction, and reformation of mankind.
