David Hume

David Hume (English: David Hume, /hjuːm/; May 7, 1711 - August 25, 1776), a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, was a British philosopher, ethicist, economist, historian and essayist. He was a representative figure of the Scottish Enlightenment and late empiricist philosophy, and his representative is "A Treatise of Human Nature". Although modern studies of Hume's work focus on his philosophical thought, he first became famous as a historian. His book "History of Great Britain" became the foundation work of English historical circles for 60 to 70 years. Traditional historians often classify Hume's philosophy as skepticism. Since the 20th century, some scholars have begun to emphasize Hume's commitment to constructing secular "the science of man" and argue that ethical naturalism is also one of Hume's central ideas. On the whole, Hume used skepticism to undermine the basis of Christian arguments, pointing out that humans can only recognize things experienced, so philosophers should focus their attention on secular life. Hume's philosophy absorbed the theories of English intellectuals such as Isaac Newton and Francis Hutcheson. He refused to accept the existence of innate ideas and believed that all human knowledge comes entirely from experience. This made him an empiricist along with Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and George Berkeley.