David Hume's mother reportedly lamented, "Our Davie is a fine good-natured critter, but uncommon weak-minded." Perhaps she would have been comforted to know that today her son is widely considered to be the most important philosopher ever to have written in the English language. The
Companion's 11 essays take the reader from Hume's precocious
Treatise of Human Nature--published in 1739, when he was only 28--to the posthumously published
Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, and cover not only the subjects central to Hume's philosophy but also his views on politics, economics, literary and aesthetic theory, and even history. As David Wootton's essay observes, the British Library catalog identifies Hume as "the historian"--"to the puzzlement," Wootton quips, "of generations of philosophers." Also included are Hume's two short autobiographies, written in his own inimitable style: he describes the unexcited reaction to his
Treatise by saying that "it fell dead-born from the press, without reaching such distinction as even to excite a murmur among the zealots."
The contributors to the Companion are among the most respected contemporary Hume scholars; their essays are uniformly clear and accessible. Robert J. Fogelin's article on Hume's skepticism, Knud Haakonssen's article on Hume's political theory, and J.C.A. Gaskin's article on Hume's philosophy of religion are particularly worthwhile, as is the substantial bibliography. Although the Companion is not aimed at the specialist, neither is it for the philosophical novice--still, anyone interested in Hume's life and work would benefit from perusing it. --Glenn Branch
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