Book description
Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have
transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have
inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened,
outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and
destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers,
pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and
helped make us who we are. One of the most important thinkers ever to
write in English, the Empiricist David Hume liberated philosophy from
the superstitious constraints of religion; here, he argues that all are
free to choose between life and death, considers the nature of personal
taste and succinctly criticises common philosophies of the time. David
Hume was born in Edinburgh in 1711, and by his death in 1776 had become
one of Britain's greatest men of letters, equal in stature to Voltaire
and Rousseau and described by Boswell as 'the greatest Writer in
Brittain'. As well as his Essays, which were republished and expanded
throughout his life, he wrote A Treatise of Human Nature (later recast
as Enquiries concerning Human Understanding and concerning the
Principles of Morals) and a History of Britain.
