David Hume: Historical Thinker, Historical Writer, edited by Mark G. Spencer

Abstract

David Hume: Historical Thinker, Historical Writer, edited by Mark G. Spencer. University Park, Pennsylvania State University Press, 2013. xii, 282 pp. $69.95 US (cloth). This book is a fine collection of essays addressing an under-explored topic, namely relation between Hume philosopher and Hume historian. Mark G. Spencer notes in introduction that apart from scattered remarks on history in Hume's philosophical treatises and essays, and general comments on development of English constitution in his History of England, philosophical content in Hume's historical writings and historical content of his philosophy are not fully apparent. And while Hume's History of England was widely read in his day, his historical work tended to be neglected thereafter relative to his philosophical texts. Although some of claims made by authors in this volume may be questioned, in terms of their various attempts to unify philosophical and historical sides of David Hume, collection as a whole represents a significant contribution to growing scholarship on this important aspect of Hume's thought. The essays employ a diversity of approaches. Roger L. Emerson argues that Hume was potentially interested in writing an ecclesiastical history (as did his successor Gibbon), given often rich accounts of ecclesiastical affairs in The History of England. His hesitance arose from not wanting his peace disturbed by both offended religious authorities and radical Enlightenment philosophes. In contrast, Jennifer A. Herdt is critical of Hume's distinction between natural moral sentiments, and artificial lives as influenced by superstition and enthusiasm. In fact, she argues, a sympathetic understanding of religious belief and practice underpins Hume's writing; Hume's own historiography can be interpreted as endorsing a kind of providentialism (of human progress). The following chapters focus on Hume's History of England. Philip Hick nicely traces development of concepts of from Machiavelli to Bolingbroke. He argues that Hume broke from republican and Whig views on freedom in his analysis of its entanglements with religious fanaticism, and need to balance with authority. Nevertheless Hume's employment of rhetoric of the spirit of liberty helped fuel revolutionary politics of late eighteenth-century America. Mark Towsey turns to eighteenth-century Scottish readership of The History of England. He shows that despite misgivings over Hume's religious skepticism, and complicated and controversial political learnings, work nevertheless enjoyed great success in his homeland. David Allan looks southward to ascertain who Hume's English readers might have been, and how they discussed and obtained copies of his History--again despite or because of its controversial content. In his examination of medieval volumes of History, Jeffrey M. Suderman explores Hume's nuanced reflections on English kings of Middle Ages. For Hume greatest monarchs were those who transcended barbarism of their times, thus reinforcing not only superiority of modem civility but also surprising role of powerful monarchs in making of modem English constitutional liberty. …