Books in the Dover Philosophical Classics series

Hume's comprehensive effort to form an observationally grounded study of human nature employs John Locke's empiric principles to construct a theory of knowledge from which to evaluate metaphysical ideas. A key to modern studies of 18th-century Western philosophy, the "Treatise" considers numerous classic philosophical issues, including causation, existence, freedom and necessity, and morality.

Asserting that religion and divinity are outward projections of inner human nature, this 1841 polemic excited immediate international attention and influenced the development of Marxist theory.