Hume: A Very Short Introduction

James A. Harris

Dec 2021 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Julian Elfer

About this audiobook

David Hume, philosopher, historian, economist, librarian, and essayist, was one of the great figures of the European Enlightenment. Unlike some of his famous contemporaries, however, he was not dogmatically committed to idealized conceptions of reason, liberty, and progress. Instead, Hume was a skeptic whose arguments questioned the reach and authority of human rationality, and who put the rivalrous passions of commercial life at the center of his theory of human nature. He believed that the modern world was in many ways superior to the ancient world, but was acutely conscious of the threats to peace and progress posed by bigotry, factionalism, and imperialism. Today Hume's works continue to speak to us powerfully in an age of instability and uncertainty. This Very Short Introduction presents a balanced account of Hume's thought, giving equal attention to his work on human nature, morality, politics, and religion. Weaving together biography, the historical context, and a thoughtful exposition of Hume's arguments, James A. Harris offers a compelling picture of a thinker who had no disciples and formed no school, but whom no one in his own time was able to ignore, and who has since become central to modern philosophy's understanding of itself.

About the author

James A. Harris is professor of the history of philosophy at the University of St Andrews, where he has taught since 2004. He is the author of the acclaimed Hume: An Intellectual Biography, and of many articles and book chapters on aspects of Hume's thought. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

British-born Julian Elfer is an award-winning New York City-based actor and audiobook narrator. With over 100 titles to his credit, Julian brings a unique facility for characterization in fiction and an empathy for the personalities and events of the past.