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David Hume (1711-76)

One of the Most Influential Philosophers David Hume was born on April 26, 1711. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. His father died when he was still a child and around 1723 he enrolled at the University of Edinburgh where he studied three years of law. By the 18th century he was considered a philosopher. He was very knowledgeable of Western Philosophy and Scottish Enlightenment. Hume wrote a book called A Treatise of Human Nature in 1739. Hume has been grouped with John Locke, George Berkeley and along with many other British Empiricist. Not only was Hume an author and a philosopher but he was also a historian and economist. Hume accomplished many things in his life. He not only published his first book but made two volumes of the book. Also did a second addition to the book called An Abstract of a Treatise of Human Nature. He also published two volumes of Essays. Hume went on to publish four other books as well. Hume was appointed as private secretary to Lord Hertford. Hume served in London as an undersecretary. After a long life of accomplishments Hume died of cancer in 1776. Hume was known as one of the greatest philosophers. Hume came up with the idea of standard taste. He believed that all humans seek the standard taste. Hume also states in the Aesthetics book “Beauty is no quality in things themselves; It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty” (104). In this quote Hume is expressing to his readers that he does not believe in beauty. He doesn’t believe there are guild lines to what beauty is because everyone sees different things as beautiful. People’s minds do not all process the same thing as beautiful. Hume also has another quote that expresses his philosopher beliefs. Hume states “To seek real beauty, or real deformity, is as fruitless an enquiry, as to pretend to ascertain the real sweet or the real bitter” (104). Hume is saying trying to find real beauty or real fault in something is impossible. There is no such thing as “real” beauty or “real” fault because everyone views beauty and fault as something different. Beauty to Hume is what people believe beauty to be. Hume’s belief is anything can be beautiful there are no set guide lines to what things are beautiful. Every piece of artwork has as much potential to be either beautiful or ugly, all depending on just how the person sees it. Hume believes that aesthetic attitude all depends on the person viewing the artwork and the feeling they have towards it. Hume doesn’t believe that a piece of artwork can possess its own atheistic feeling that it can give off the feeling of aesthetic beauty to the people who really understand the art. Hume philosophy is very accurate. Every piece of artwork gives off aesthetic feelings to different people. If someone claims to get the aesthetic emotion from a painting that another person does not find aesthetically pleasing then it must be what the person sees beauty as rather than the piece of artwork possessing the aesthetic attitude. Hume talked a lot about skepticism in his book Treatise and also in another book he wrote called Inquiry. Hume skepticism is created to challenge the ordinary thoughts and beliefs of knowledge. Hume likes to think outside of the box, he didn’t like to think like everyone else. He liked thinks to be unique and different from others. Skepticism is a way to question the typical answers to the same questions people always ask. If in disbelief of something that has been already proven it is still good to question it. Hume did exactly that question things he already knew that answer to because he did not like to think like everyone else, always second guessing the things that people left alone. Many people find a lot of skepticism in Hume’s books. People criticize Hume for talking about skepticism in all of his books. Although Hume discusses a lot of skepticism in his books he also understands that a large amount of skepticism can also be harmful to common sense. Even though Hume likes to go against the norm he still understands the issues it can cause always thinking deeper about issues that most people don’t consider at all. Hume accomplished a lot in his life and was a very respectable man, although he liked to stray away from the norm and liked to question the common sense of people. Hume was one of the world’s greatest philosophers. He had a different way of thinking compared to other philosophers which made him stand out against the group.

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