The Novelty of Hume's Philosophy

Abstract

Rochefoucauld said in his 93rd Maxim that old men delight in giving good advice as a consolation for the fact that they can no longer set bad examples. It was chiefly this which made me resolve against attempting to give you any part of my own philosophy this evening. Instead, I wish to discuss some aspects of Hume's philosophy in its original background. It is my conviction that, among philosophers of the first rank, it was Hume more than any of his contemporaries or predecessors who brought about the transition from a theological to a naturalistic view of the world. Spinoza and others had contributed much to this process. The progress of the natural sciences from the late Renaissance to Newton discredited almost all

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