Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (with an Introduction by L. A. Selby-Bigge)

Disappointed by the public reception to &quote;A Treatise of Human Nature&quote;, published anonymously between 1739 and 1740, David Hume decided to produce a shorter more polemic version of that work nearly ten years later. That revision, which was published in 1748, would be entitled &quote;An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding&quote;. Dispensing with much of the extraneous material from the &quote;Treatise&quote;, Hume focuses on his more vital propositions in the &quote;Enquiry&quote;. Proceeding in incremental steps Hume discusses the following concepts: &quote;The Different Species of Philosophy&quote;, &quote;The Origin of Ideas&quote;, &quote;The Association of Ideas&quote;, &quote;Sceptical Doubts Concerning the Operations of the Understanding&quote;, &quote;Sceptical Solution of These Doubts&quote;, &quote;Probability&quote;, &quote;The Idea of Necessary Connection&quote;, &quote;Liberty and Necessity&quote;, &quote;The Reason of Animals&quote;, &quote;Miracles&quote;, &quote;Of a Particular Providence and of a Future State&quote;, and &quote;The Academical or Sceptical Philosophy&quote;. Widely considered a classic of modern philosophical literature, &quote;An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding&quote; is Hume's theory of knowledge which would influence thinkers both in his time and for generations to come. This edition includes an introduction by L. A. Selby-Bigge and a biographical afterword.