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4 volumes. First edition thus, the first uniform collected edition of Hume's writings and a handsome early set of Hume's works containing all of his most important essays and Treatises. Volume one with a fine portrait of Hume engraved by Robert Grave from the portrait by Allan Ramsey. Tall 8vo, in contemporary calf covered boards framed with double gilt-ruled lines, long ago backed in smooth tan calf with the spines featuring twin red morocco labels gilt ruled and lettered, page edges marbled. cxxix, 347; vii, 560; vi, 579; ix, 603 pp. A handsome set, internally pristine and perfect, the text absolutely spotless and showing virtually no evidence of use or wear. The bindings are strong and sturdy with fine and solid hinges, the boards show some rubbing to which the calf is prone over time, spine panels in good order with slight rubbing or abrasion to the calf. THE FIRST UNIFORM COLLECTED EDITION OF ALL OF HUME'S IMPORTANT WRITINGS; such as his 'Treatise of Human Nature', his 'Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary', his 'Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding', 'Principles of Morals', History of Religion', and etc, etc. The collection also includes Hume's self-written 'Life of the Author', his Will and Testament, the letter from Adam Smith to William Strachan, an account of the controversy between Hume and Rousseau, a list of Scotticisms, as well as an extensive index. Hume's greatest work, A Treatise of Human Nature is included here. He called it "a work which the Author had projected before he left College, and which he wrote and published not long after. But not finding it successful, he was sensible of his error in going to the press too early, and he cast the whole anew. where some negligences in his former reasoning and more in the expression, [were], he hopes, corrected." [Author's Introduction] 'Hume's introduction presents the idea of placing all science and philosophy on a novel foundation: namely, an empirical investigation into human psychology. He begins by acknowledging "that common prejudice against metaphysical reasonings [i.e., any complicated and difficult argumentation]", a prejudice formed in reaction to "the present imperfect condition of the sciences" (including the endless scholarly disputes and the inordinate influence of "eloquence" over reason). But since the truth "must lie very deep and abstruse" where "the greatest geniuses" have not found it, careful reasoning is still needed. All sciences, Hume continues, ultimately depend on "the science of man": knowledge of "the extent and force of human understanding, the nature of the ideas we employ, and. the operations we perform in our reasonings" is needed to make real intellectual progress. So Hume hopes "to explain the principles of human nature", thereby "propos[ing] a compleat system of the sciences, built on a foundation almost entirely new, and the only one upon which they can stand with any security." But an a priori psychology would be hopeless: the science of man must be pursued by the experimental methods of the natural sciences. This means we must rest content with well-confirmed empirical generalizations, forever ignorant of "the ultimate original qualities of human nature". And in the absence of controlled experiments, we are left to "glean up our experiments in this science from a cautious observation of human life, and take them as they appear in the common course of the world, by men's behaviour in company, in affairs, and in their pleasures." In Book I: Of the Understanding, Hume begins by arguing that each simple idea is derived from a simple impression, so that all our ideas are ultimately derived from experience: thus Hume accepts concept empiricism and rejects the purely intellectual and innate ideas found in rationalist philosophy. Hume's doctrine draws on two important distinctions: between impressions (the forceful perceptions found in experience, "all our sensations, passions and emotions") and ideas (the faint perceptions found i. Seller Inventory # 31672
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