Hume's Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding: A Reader's Guide

The Enquiry has long been considered a poor sister to the Treatise on Human Nature, but Baily (philosophy, Keele U.) and O'Brien (philosophy, U. of Birmingham) affirm that it holds its own and even provides deeper insights into some key themes than the better-known work. Here they wisely center on Hume's empiricism in this seminal work within his project to center on both secularism and naturalism. They begin with the work's contexts and explain such key themes as empiricism, epistemological skepticism, a naturalistic account of human beings and secularism. They then annotate the text, describe the influence of Hume's thought on studies of the epistemology of testimony, naturalized epistemology and cognitive science, and provide lists of secondary literature on the work and Hume's philosophy and further reading. Annotation c2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Alan Bailey has taught in the Philosophy departments at the University of Keele and the University of Birmingham, UK.Dan O'Brien is a Research Fellow at Oxford Brookes University, Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham and Associate Lecturer at the Open University, UK.