Ein Traktat über die menschliche Natur

New edition of the foundational work of English empiricism based on the translation by Theodor Lipps. The debut work of David Hume (1711-1776), which is presented here in the revised translation by Theodor Lipps, is titled "A Treatise of Human Nature: Being an Attempt to Introduce the Experimental Method of Reasoning into Moral Subjects." Books I and II of the treatise (On the Understanding, On the Passions) were published anonymously in 1739, followed by Book III (On Morals) in 1740, also anonymously. The great expectations the author had for the publication of the three books were not met; they "came out of the press as a stillborn" (as Hume remarked about the neglect of his debut by his contemporaries). Today, this youthful work is considered Hume's fundamental theoretical work, as it already contains the essence of the philosophy of the critical empiricist.