Hume's Enquiry

Scott Stapleford is Professor of Philosophy at St. Thomas University, Fredericton. He is the author of Kant’s Transcendental Arguments: Disciplining Pure Reason (2008), coauthor of Berkeley’s Principles: Expanded and Explained (2016, with Tyron Goldschmidt), coauthor of Logic Works: A Rigorous Introduction to Formal Logic (2021, with Lorne Falkenstein and Molly Kao), coeditor of Epistemic Duties: New Arguments, New Angles (2020, with Kevin McCain), and series editor (with Kevin McCain) of Routledge Studies in Epistemology.Tyron Goldschmidt is Fellow of the Rutgers Center for the Philosophy of Religion. He is the author of various books, including Ontological Arguments (2020), editor of various volumes, including Nonbeing: New Essays on the Metaphysics of Nonexistence (2021, with Sara Bernstein), and has articles in various academic journals, including the Journal of the American Philosophical Association and Philosophers’ Imprint.

"This is a highly innovative and exciting approach to one of the great classics of philosophy. Primarily aimed at students, I strongly suspect that experienced scholars will benefit greatly from seeing Hume through the fresh lens of this volume."Michael Ruse, Florida State University"This is a brilliant book, embodying a fantastically helpful and novel approach to supporting students in navigating Hume’s Enquiry. The explicatory and instructive commentary is woven in seamlessly – the format is such that the reader can easily distinguish the voices of Stapleford and Goldschmidt from that of Hume. The authors do a marvellous job of executing an enjoyable, innovative, and valuable approach to reading and understanding the Enquiry."Ema Sullivan-Bissett, University of Birmingham"Philosophers face many hurdles when introducing students to classic texts. Well, this bold and distinctive book removes one of those hurdles. We meet a brilliant idea being applied sensitively, for Hume’s first Enquiry. If I was wearing a hat, I would raise it in appreciation of what Stapleford and Goldschmidt have accomplished here."Stephen Hetherington, The University of New South Wales"This book is an excellent tool for students and teachers alike. It allows readers to participate in the continuous flow of Hume's thoughts and, at the same time, receive illuminating explanation without being disrupted by footnotes, appendices or other comments. Throughout the expanded text, the authors have successfully retained Hume's own structure and dialectics of the Enquiry. Using this book for teaching will be like co-teaching with two expert scholars who provide the students with guidance during the whole process of reading."Verena Wagner, University of Konstanz"In the Middle Ages philosophy was often conducted via commentaries on what in the day were considered the great philosophical works. This had the benefit of being immensely useful for students seeking an initial understanding, but also for the established scholars seeking to deepen their understanding of the texts familiar to them. It is extremely refreshing to see this approach – with the concomitant advantages above – deftly re-visited, illuminating this philosophical classic." Anthony R. Booth, University of Sussex

• Introductory Note An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding Section 1: Of the different species of philosophy Section 2: Of the origin of ideas Section 3: Of the association of ideas Section 4: Sceptical doubts concerning the operations of the understanding Section 5: Sceptical solutions of these doubtsm Section 6: Of probability Section 7: Of the idea of necessary connection Section 8: Of Liberty and Necessity Section 9: Of The Reason of Animals Section 10: Of Miracles Section 11: Of a Particular Providence and a Future State Section 12: Of the Academical or Sceptical Philosophy