Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer notes that David Hume was seen as a very prominent figure in history both in the Scottish enlightenment and in Western philosophy. The writer notes that interest in Hume's work in recent years has become more centered on the philosophical writing that he did, but it was for being a historian that he originally gained some notoriety. The writer points out that much of what Hume had to say became closely involved with others as they examined their own philosophies and ideas. This made Hume's work much more significant because so much of what he stated and believed in was studied by others and expanded on as time passed. The writer concludes that Hume meant a great deal to many philosophers, and this is part of the reason that his work is still so alive and important today while the work of others of his time have not been as closely studied.

From the Paper:

"In David Hume's article on empiricism, he attempts to show how some things that people believe to be real are the product of false knowledge, and there is a difference between things that people perceive to be true and things that actually are true. Hume's theory is that only things that can be proven, such as mathematics, are absolutely true. Other things may seem to be true because something usually happens related to something else, but even though this seems to always be the case there is room for argument in that it does not have to be the case every time, simply because it has happened that way in the past. Hume believes that the only truth is mathematical truth, and that there are many other things in the world that people falsely perceive to be true because they have not subjected those things to an examination that is serious enough to show otherwise."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Ashley, D. & Orenstein, D. M. (2000). Sociological Theory: Classical Statements (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
• Bongie, L. L. (1998) David Hume - Prophet of the Counter-Revolution. Liberty Fund, Indianapolis,
• Comte's, A. (1855). View of the Nature and Importance of the Positive Philosophy [Electronic version]. Retrieved October 24, 2002, from http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/faculty /hodgson/Courses/so11/frameworks/fpintro.html
• Durkheim, E. (1997). The Division of Labor in Society. New York, NY: Free Press.
• Graham, R. (2004). The Great Infidel - A Life of David Hume. John Donald, Edinburgh.

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