Hume is one of the greatest of all British philosophers, and even in his own lifetime was celebrated as one of the pivotal figures of the Enlightenment. A central theme of his philosophy is the conviction that questions traditionally thought of as completely independent of the scientific realmDSquestions about the mind, about morality, and about God, for exampleDSare actually best explained using the experimental methods characteristic of the natural sciences. Hume's 'naturalist' approach to a wide variety of philosophical topics resulted in highly original theories about perception, self-identity, causation, morality, politics, and religion, all of which are discussed in this stimulating introduction by A J Ayer, himself one of the twentieth century's most important philosophers. Ayer also gives an account of Hume's fascinating life and character, and includes generous quotations from Hume's lucid and often witty writings.

Hume is one of the greatest of all British philosophers, and even in his own lifetime was celebrated as one of the pivotal figures of the Enlightenment. Hume's "naturalist" approach to a wide variety of philosophical topics resulted in highly original theories about perception, self-identity, causation, morality, politics, and religion, all of which are discussed in this stimulating introduction by A.J. Ayer, Ayer also gives an account of Hume's fascinating life and character, and includes generous quotations from Hume's lucid and often witty writings.

Sir Alfred Ayer, Wykeham Professor of Logic at Oxford from 1959 to 1978, was a Fellow of Wolfson College Oxford, and of the British Academy. He was the author of many well-known philosophical works, including Language, Truth and Logic, The Central Questions of Philosophy, and Russell. His autobiographical Part of My Life was published as an Oxford Paperback in 1978. He died in 1989.

2007-07-28 Good, but arguably not a "Very Short Introduction"

I enjoyed this book but it's a bit of a struggle in parts (especially the chapter on Causation). It feels a bit out of place to include it as part of the excellent "Very Short Introductions" series as it's based on a series of lectures from 1979 and seems written for a different audience than more recently commissioned titles in that series. Still worth a read mind you but not quite what I was expecting.