Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, David Hume’s parents were noble but impoverished, and he worked as a merchant’s assistant while seeking to start his career as a writer. In 1738, he published his greatest work, A Treatise of Human Nature. Ironically, at the time the book did not meet with commercial or critical success, although it is now a major text in philosophy. Hume’s career was that of a freelancer, with many short engagements and other attempts at publication. He would eventually published a six-volume The History of England between 1754 and 1762 (covering events from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution of 1688), which brought him fame and fortune. Some of the money he made was invested in the Atlantic Trade, bringing slaves from Africa to the Americas. He died of abdominal cancer in 1775.
In the realm of philosophy, Hume’s importance was felt both during his life (his work was an influence on Adam Smith and Rousseau), and afterwards, when he influenced such thinkers as Kant, Kierkegaard, Einstein, Popper, and Schopenhauer. His work dealt with the classic problems of philosophy: nature of the self, aesthetics, morality, ethics and reason. Hume was notable for his embrace of empiricism and positivism as parts of the philosophical methods, and his advocacy of moral sentimentality.
