CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY" HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE All books are subject to recall after two weeks. Olin/Kroch Library 1 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029079147 THE WORLD'S EPOCH-MAKERS EDITED BY •OLIPHANT SMEATON David Hume and His Influence on Philosophy and Theology By James Orr, M.A., D,D. — Previous Volumes in this Series : CRANMER AND THE ENGLISH REFORMATION. By A. D. Innes, M.A. WESLEY AND METHODISM. By F. J. Snell, M.A. LUTHER AND THE GERMAN REFORMATION. By Principal T. M. LiNDSAV, D.D. BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM. By Arthur Lillie. WILLIAM HERSCHEL AND HIS WORK. By James Sime, M.A., F.R.S.E. FRANCIS AND DOMINIC. By Prof. J. Herkless, D.D. SAVONAROLA. By Rev. G. M^Hardy, D.D. ANSELM AND HIS WORK. By Rev. A. C. Welch, M.A., B.D. MUHAMMAD AND HIS POWER. By P. De Lacy Johnstone, M.A.(Oxon.) ORIGEN AND GREEK PATRISTIC THEOLOGY. By Rev. William Fairweather, M.A. THE MEDICI AND THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE. By Oliphant Smeaton, M.A, PLATO. By Prof. D. G. Ritchie, M.A., LL.D. PASCAL AND THE PORT ROYALISTS. By Prof. William Clark, LL.D., D.C.L. EUCLID: HIS LIFE AND SYSTEM. By Thomas Smith, D.D., LL.D. HEGEL AND HEGELIANISM. By Prof. R. Mackintosh, D.D. THE WORLD^S EPOCH-MAKERS David Hume and His Influence on Philosophy and Theology By James Qrr, M.A,, D.D. Professor of Apologetics and Systematic Theology United Free Church College, Glasgotv Edinburgh. T. & T. Clark 1903 ^H Hl Ml PRINTED BY MORRISON AND GIBB LIMITED, FOR T. & T. CLARK, EDINBURGH. LONDON : SlilPKlN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT, AND CO. LIMITED. NEW YORK : CHARLES SCBIBNER'S SONS. PREFACE The present sketch of the life, philosophy, and influ- ence of Hume is based on well - nigh a lifetime's familiarity with the works of that author ; but is, the writer feels, still very imperfect. It is only necessary in this Preface to specify sources of information, with the editions of Hume's Works referred to in the text, or that may profitably be consulted, and briefl.y to indicate one or two principles that have been followed in the composition of the book. For the Life of Hume the main authority must always be Dr. J. Hill Burton's elaborate work, the Life and Correspondence of David Hume^ supple- mented by Dr. G. Birkbeck Hill's Letters of David Hume to William Strahan, with the full and valu- able notes in that volume. With both will naturally be compared the brief sketch, entitled My Own Life, which Hume himself wrote shortly before his death, with a view to its being prefixed to future editions of his works. The ease of style, naivete, and candour of self- revelation of the life-motives of its author, invest this autobiographical piece with more than usual interest. For the outer and anecdotal side of Hume's Edinburgh life, with sketches of his contemporaries, and of the VI PREFACE society in which he and they moved, the reader may be referred to "Jupiter" Carlyle's Autobiography, and to the recent works of the Rev. H. G. Graham on Social Life in Scotland, and Scottish Men of Letters, in the eighteenth century. The spirit in these will be found entirely sympathetic. The references in the text to Hume's works are to that edition which the writer has been longest acquainted with, and has mainly used—the old four- volume edition of Hume's Philosophical Works, pub- lished by Messrs. A. & C. Black in 1854. It was his intention to adjust the references to the excellent later edition of Hume's Works by T. H. Green and T. H. Grose; but in the end he found that certain advan- tages attached to the method originally adopted, and accordingly adhered to it. The peculiar value of Green and Grose's edition, it need hardly be said, lies in Prof. Green's exhaustive examination of Hume's Treatise in his Introduction to that work, and in the " History of the Editions," prefixed to the Essays by Mr. Grose. More recently, fresh proof has been given of the interest in Hume by the publication by the Clarendon Press of careful reprints of Hume's Treatise and his two Enquiries, edited with admirable Introduc- tions, coinparative tables, and full analytical indices, by Mr. L. A. Selby-Bigge, M.A. Mention should also be made of Leslie Stephen's English Thought in the Eighteenth Century. With these aids, and the more popular works of Huxley, Kniglit, and Calderwood, the student should be at no loss to c^et at the true " inwardness " of Hume's philosophy. This little work can only be offered as a further humble contribution, from its own point of view, to the same end. ; PREFACE vii The edition of the History to which references are made is (unless otherwise specified) the final edition, embracing the author's " last corrections and improve- ments." The edition is in eight volumes, and the special issue used is that of 1796. It is indicated in the test that the point of view from which Hume's philosophy is mainly regarded is that of an experiment to explain knowledge, and generally the intellectual and moral outfit of man, without the assumption of a rational nature in man. The criticism in the volume, on the other hand, is directed to show (1) that the processes of Hume which ignore the rational self—the operation of reason—in the building up of a theory of knowledge, are invalid ; and (2) that the rational self—the assumption of a rational thinking principle in man—alone solves the problems he raises. Hume is treated in this endeavour to solve the problem of knowledge without rational presuppositions as a type. It is astonishing to those familiar with his thouo:ht to find how much of it is present in, and continues in varying forms to be re- produced by, popular empirical philosophy. Origin of knowledge in vivid and faint states of consciousness " the potency of association ; the I " as a flowing stream of consciousness ; no substantive self ; no ; freedom good as objectively existing world no ; pleasure and evil as pain ; utility the standard of " morals ; dismissal of rational Theism, and natural " histories of religion ; with much else that will readily occur to the observer of present-day tendencies. In dealing with this widespread and prolonged influence of Hume, some method had to be adopted. It was impossible to deal with all ramifications of that ; viii PREFACE influence, and the simplest principle seemed to be to keep in view mainly certain representative authors and schools. Kant has been chosen as representing the critical-rational standpoint — the more that he acknowledges his direct awakening by Hume; Reid and Hamilton (in part Brown) represent the Scottish school ; J. S. Mill and Mr. Bain are selected as promi- nent Associationalists ; Mr. Spencer stands for himself Wundt and Prof. W. James are taken as types of the physiological psychology of the newer period. Mr. J. S. Mill is called upon also to do duty for utilitarian- ism in morals. Mr. Green may be held to represent idealism. It is impossible that in so brief a sketch even scant justice should be done to all these phases of thought, but there is at least the consistent endeavour to do none of them injustice. Such as the book is, it must now further speak for itself. The thanks of the writer are due to the Rev. J. M. Wilson, B.D., London, for his kind assistance in correc- tion of the proofs. ' CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. Introductory ,.,... 1 11. Life of Htjme—1. Till the ruBLicATiON of the Treatise . .14 III. Do. —2. Literary Labours till the Publication of THE History . .34 IV. Do. —3, From the Publication of the History till HIS Death . .57 V.I Hume in relation to previous Philosophy — his - Scepticism . .... 85 VI. Hume and the First Principles of Knowledge . 104 VII. Hume on Cause and Effect : Free-Will . 122 VIII. Hume on Substance : the Material World : the Ego . .143 IX. Hume on Morals: Utilitarianism . .166 X. Hume and Theology : Miracles . 192 XI. Hume's Miscellaneous Writings : Political Economy —Hume as Historian . .217 APPENDIX.—On some Editions of Hume's Works . 237 INDEX 243 DAVID HUME CHAPTER I Introductoey David Hume justly takes rank as the most distin- guished member of that brilliant circle of literary men whose names gave such a lustre to the second half of the eighteenth century in Scotland. His speculations were the most profound, and, with the possible excep- tion of Adam Smith in a particular department, his influence was the widest and most deeply felt, of any. Hume's contemporaries could hardly be expected to do him justice. His daring subtleties and avowed scepticism excited so many prejudices, and exposed him to so much dislike, that only a few were able and prepared to recognise his substantial merits. But even his warmest friends could scarcely have predicted the influence he was destined to exercise, or the important results that were to spring from his thoughts. It required time to clear away the mists that had gathered round his name, and to place him in his true light in the eyes of posterity. At a century and a half's dis- tance, we are in a better position to take an impartial 2 DAVID HUME survey of his work and its effects.