| David Hume(171126 April-25 August 1776) was a Scottish philosopher, economist, historian and an important figure in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment. Though modern study is focusing on his philosophical thinking, he gained his fame as a historian. His six-volume History of England was a bestseller well into the nineteenth century and the standard work on English history for many years。However, what widely influenced the realm of thought is his A Treatise of Human Nature. His covered a wide range of thoughts, such as philosophy, political science, ethics, psychology and aesthetics. Based on the studies of former scholars', this essay tries to analyze Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature in the following aspects:The first chapter is about Hume's life and works. Hume was sent to the law school at university of Edinburgh. He began to study philosophy when he was 18 and continued his study for the subsequent decades. In 1739, Hume published his first and the most important work, the first and second column of A Treatise of Human Nature. Afterwards, he successively published his other works such as An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, Essays Moral and Political, Political Discourses, The Natural History of Religion and History of England, etc. And Dialogues concerning Natural Religion was published posthumously by his nephew.The second chapter mainly introduces the social background and theoretical source of Hume's thought. The time of Hume's life was the preparing and beginning stage of British industrial revolution. Bourgeois revolution in England wound up in the compromise between bourgeoisie and feudal aristocracy. The Whig who represented the bourgeoisie in industry and commerce fought against the Tory who represented the landed aristocracy. In his Political Discourses, Hume had made his position. The development of science in 16th century to 18th century, especially during the late 17th century and early 18th century had influenced Hume greatly. The era Hume lived called "the Age of Enlightenment" which influenced history, moral philosopy and economics. Hume had made great contribution in these three fields. He directly inherited and developed the tradition of empiricism in Britain. And he recruited the scientific methods and principles of Newtonian mechanics. Thus he revealed his moderate skepticism. All of the statements have proved that Hume's thought was based on a broad theoretical source and worthy of our study.The third chapter introduces A Treatise of Human Nature to the readers. According to the basic structure of the book, I introduce the contents from three aspects, the epistemology basis, the emotional feature analysis and the origin and function of human ethics.The fourth chapter tries to tell readers about the thought of Hume which is based on his Treatise. Human nature is both a theory of politics and a theory of philosophy, which is the unique feature of Hume. The core of Hume's theory of human nature is described from the understanding, passions and morals. Hume was a thorough agnostic. He not only disbelieved the existence of objective entity in material, but also suspected the existence in spirit. So according to Hume's theory, we could not prove such qualities of god as the nature, the feature, the power, the function etc. Thus Hume had shaken the root of the Christian doctrine. The last part of this chapter studies the political thought of Hume, focusing on the rules of justice. This part is one of the most important components of Hume's philosophy, and also the practice of Hume's thought.The fifth chapter states Hume's influences to other famous thinkers. Kant is the one who benefited the most from Hume's thought. Adam Smith and Bentham inherited and developed Hume's thought in other fields. In a word, Hume's contributions influenced ethics, aesthetics religious philosophy and other fields and he was one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy.
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