Born: 5/7/1711   Died: 8/25/1776

David Hume, a Scottish philosopher and historian, was one of the most influential figures in 18th century philosophy. Working in the empiricist tradition, he held the view that all ideas are derived from impressions. Hume reached notoriously skeptical conclusion about the powers of the understanding and about traditional metaphysical notions such as cause and effect, substance, and the self. However, his project was not merely skeptical, as he attempted to explain in naturalistic terms how beliefs not grounded in reason are nevertheless generated by the imagination. In his moral philosophy, Hume also emphasized the limits of the understanding, arguing that moral judgments are based not on reason but on sentiment. In addition to his work in epistemology and moral philosophy, Hume wrote on aesthetics, religion, and political philosophy. Among his best-known works are the Treatise of Human Nature, Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, and Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.