Reading Hume on Human Understanding: Essays on the First Enquiry

by Peter Millican (Editor)

This companion to the study of one of the great works of Western philosophy—David Hume's Enquiry concerning Human Understanding (1748)—provides a general overview of the Enquiry, especially for those approaching it for the first time, and sets it in the context of Hume's philosophical work as a whole. It elucidates, analyzes, and assesses the philosophy of the Enquiry, clarifying its interpretation and discussing recent developments in Hume scholarship that are relevant to the Enquiry. The eminent contributors to this volume cover a broad range of topics: meaning, induction, skepticism, belief, personal identity, causation, freedom, miracles, probability, and religious belief.

Genres: Philosophy

495 pages, Paperback

First published March 14, 2002

About the author

Peter Millican (born March 1, 1958) is Gilbert Ryle Fellow and Professor of Philosophy at Hertford College, University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. His primary interests include the philosophy of David Hume, philosophy of religion, philosophy of language, epistemology, and moral philosophy. Millican attended Borden Grammar School in Kent, United Kingdom. He read Mathematics and then Philosophy and Theology at Lincoln College, Oxford from 1976–1980. Staying at Lincoln College, Millican took the Philosophy B.Phil in 1982 (with a thesis in Philosophical Logic). Millican later obtained his Ph.D. with a thesis on Hume, Induction and Probability, and also a research M.Sc. in Computer Science, while employed at Leeds.

Recently he has developed a new degree programme at Oxford University, in Computer Science and Philosophy, which accepted its first students in 2012.