Unlike Spinoza, Hume was eager to apply his insight. He did so immediately in Book III of the Treatise when discussing the “origin of society.” Speaking of the “avidity … of acquiring goods and possessions,” he finds this so potentially destructive and also so uniquely powerful a passion that the only way of checking it is to have it countervail itself. This does not seem an easy operation to perform, but here is how Hume solves the problem:
