Engraving by William Holl the Younger after Allan Ramsay, 1853. Courtesy The Walter Scott Digital Archive, Edinburgh University Library.
Often considered Britain's greatest philosopher, David Hume characterised himself simply as a ‘man of letters'. Indeed, Hume wrote on such a variety of subjects, ranging from traditional philosophy to economics, politics, aesthetics, religion and English history, that in his own way, he may be said to have exploded the conventional idea of a ‘philosopher'. This viewpoint finds some justification even within the field of philosophy, since Hume can be labelled as both a radical skeptic and a moralist, depending on whether one considers epistemology or concrete instances of psychology. Perhaps we can define Hume in terms that he would have found
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Citation: Mankin, Robert. "David Hume". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 October 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2255, accessed 22 November 2024.]
