AUTHOR’S BIO AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION David Hume (1711-1776) was one of the most influential British philosophers during the Eighteenth Century. He was a Scottish philosopher, historian, essayist, and economist. He was born with the name of David Home in Edinburgh, Scotland, the son of Joseph Home and Katherine Falconer. Hume anglicized the spelling of his family name in 1734 to reduce confusion about pronunciation.
Hume entered the University of Edinburgh at an unusually young age. At a time when most entered the university at the age of fourteen, Hume enrolled at either ten or twelve years old. Initially, he had considered a career in law, but he soon became entranced with philosophy and general learning. He began to devour literature from poets and philosophers from centuries past. Hume’s love of literature was well known during his lifetime. He was once quoted saying that there is nothing one can learn from a professor that they could not learn more completely from a book.
While studying at the University of Edinburgh, Hume had an inspiration that led him to dedicate his life fully to reading and writing. He decided to spend ten years placing the entirety of his energy into this pursuit. Hume was so single-minded in this task that he drove himself to the brink of a nervous breakdown. After this episode, he came to the belief that leading a more active life was conducive to his learning and development. Upon the completion of his education, Hume entered the career of merchant. He first spent some months working in the field of commerce in Bristol. In 1734, he travelled to Anjou, France to take up a post at La Fleche. Hume spent his time in Anjou writing his Treatise of Human Nature and discussing philosophy with the Jesuits of the College of La Fleche. This continued for four years, during which time he spent the bulk of his savings. Hume’s dwindling resources forced him to adopt a life of frugality; he was determined to let nothing stand in the way of his pursuit of literary and philosophical excellence.
Hume completed A Treatise of Human Understanding in the early part of 1738, at the age of 26. Before he had reached thirty years of age, he wrote a book that is considered by modern philosophical scholars to be one of the most important works in Western philosophy. 2
