Of the different Species of Philosophy

Abstract

Abstract The opening section of the first Enquiry has two main tasks. The first is pre-emptive damage control, the second is to signal the work's critical purpose. The damage control is the task of encouraging the polite reader not to be disheartened when the subsequent chapters become harder going; that the effort required will not be unreasonable. To this end, David Hume contrasts an easy philosophy with abstruse philosophy in order to show to the uncertain reader that he is alert to the merits of the former, and sensitive to the failings of the latter. He nevertheless insists that the latter is both necessary and advantageous. Thus, the way forward will be to attempt to combine the accessibility of the easy philosophy with the depth and profundity of abstruse philosophy.

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