History of England -

David Hume

Liberty Fund, Inc

1985

3332 páginas

4d 15h 4m

ISBN-10: 0865970203

Hume's History deserves to be ranked with such works as Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War and Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. . . . The theme of liberty, above all others, gives continuity to Hume's detailed examination of English constitutional development from the Anglo-Saxon period to the Revolution of 1688.
-- Eugene F. Miller, The Political Science Reviewer
David Hume’s enduring reputation as the first modern thinker to develop a systematically naturalistic philosophy tends to obscure the fact that he was more famous among his contemporaries as a historian. Covering almost 1,800 years, The History of England from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution in 1688 was the work that established Hume’s reputation in his own time.

Hume saw English history as a process of the evolution from a government of will to a government of law. He believed that political, social, and economic liberty was neither inevitable nor necessary, but contingent and dependent for its preservation on an understanding of the conditions that gave rise to it and the institutional arrangements that sustain it. This argument, which runs through all six volumes, expressed in Hume’s masterful prose, continues to make the History a valuable study for the modern reader.

This Liberty Fund edition is based on the edition of 1778, the last to contain corrections by Hume. The typography has been modernized for ease of reading. Hume’s own index to the entire work may be found at the conclusion of Volume VI.

Resenhas (6)

4 (Muito bom)

Filosofia & História

Quando foi publicada, a obra tinha intenções claramente historiográficas, mas hoje, após 3 séculos, seu valor é sobretudo filosófico. Isso justifica a decisão da editora em selecionar capítulos mais representativos. É óbvio que quem desejar conhecer a história inglesa deveria buscar obras mais atualizadas. Levando isso em conta, gostei muitíssimo do livro, pois representa um marco do iluminismo inglês. Hume alia a liberdade de um Voltaire à cordialidade de um Locke. É arguto sem ser pedante, um ótimo exemplo das melhores virtudes britânicas, e dá para entender o enorme sucesso desse livro entre os leitores do século XVIII. Imperdível.