An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals Analysis

Thanks to Hume's comments on modern (read: eighteenth-century) philosophy, we get a sense of the issues that folks were mulling over (read: squabbling over) around the time that Hume's writing his...

When you're reading this book, it doesn't immediately leap out as being in first person. In other kinds of texts, this is often way more obvious: with an autobiography, journal, or piece of travel...

Philosophy doesn't take anything for granted and is all about tackling heavy issues. This Enquiry is no exception, with Hume taking a critical lens to such epic topics as morality, justice, and the...

Philosophy doesn't have to be stuffy, but morality and justice are pretty deep subjects and Hume isn't gonna treat them lightly. He'll let us in on his personal views sometimes, using language like...

Works of philosophy aren't the most fun, frothy texts in the world, and their language is usually on the serious side (like in an academic essay). The Enquiry is no exception, and the fact that it...

An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals may not be the flashiest or snappiest title, but it does the job of summing up what the book's about. If we didn't already know that it was a work of...

Sometimes, we might think that we can just skip over appendices—it's like the book is the main feature and the appendices are extras. In the Enquiry, though, the appendices are super important. A...

As we often find with philosophy, this isn't the easiest text in the world. But don't fret just yet Shmoopers—as far as this stuff goes, it's not too difficult (just check out these bad boys). In...

The OutsiderHume isn't impressed with what some other philosophers have had to say about morality. Their theories have, in Hume's eyes, been vague, confusing, and just plain wrong. For him, it's ob...

The world of philosophy has been plagued by false ideas about morality. Both ancient and modern philosophers have come up with theories that are confusing or out of touch with reality. Hume's goal...

Hume begins by pointing out a mistaken belief that folks often hold: the idea that morality is based entirely on reason. Arguing that sentiment also plays a major role in our moral judgments, Hume...

Hume may be a philosopher from the 1700s but that doesn't mean he's forgotten. Desmond David Hume in Lost is named after him and an episode of The O.C. included lengthy conversations about sev...

As an eighteenth century work of philosophy, this is hardly Fifty Shades of Grey. That's not to say that it doesn't discuss some "mature" themes—it's about morality and, naturally, this involves...

Literature and PoetryJuvenal (II.I.4)Jacobus Sannazarius (V.II.14)Ovid (V.II.14)Jonathan Swift (VI.I.8)Charles de Saint-Évremond (VI.I.9, VII.3fn1)Virgil (VI.II.2, VII.27)Homer (VI.II.4, VII.15),&...