An Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals: A Critical Edition (Clarendon Hume Edition Series, Volume 4)

This new volume in the Clarendon Hume series presents a definitive scholarly edition of one of the greatest works in the history of philosophy. In his elegant and lucid Enquiry Hume gives us an accessible presentation of a fully developed ethical theory. The distinguished Hume scholar Tom L. Beauchamp presents an authoritative text accompanied by introduction, annotation, glossary, biographical sketches, bibliographies, and indexes. The authoritative version of the text presented here is based upon the 1772 edition that was seen through the press by Hume himself. The editor's introduction sets the work in its historical context; the annotations provide information about Hume's sources, allusions, citations, and meanings, to help readers towards a full understanding of the text. A biographical appendix identifies the many people mentioned by Hume in the Enquiry. Separate bibliographies list the works cited by Hume and by the editor. Hume's original index is reproduced, together with a new general index by the editor An Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals, first published in 1751, was the third of David Hume's major philosophical treatises. Hume's aim in this elegant and lucid work was to present in an accessible way his theory of the foundation of morality in human nature, a theory which had developed significantly since he first addressed the subject in A Treatise of Human Nature (1739-40). He considered this Enquiry to be 'of all my writings, historical, philosophical, or literary, incomparably the best' DISPUTES with men, pertinaciously obstinate in their principles, are, of all others, the most irksome; except, perhaps, those with persons, entirely disingenuous, who really do not believe the opinions they defend, but engage in the controversy, from affectation, from a spirit of opposition, or from a desire of showing wit and ingenuity, superior to the rest of mankind. Focuses on David Hume's "Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals". An introduction sets the work in its historical context, the annotation and glossary provide information about Hume's sources, allusions, citations, and meanings, to help readers towards an understanding of the text.