Essays Moral, Political, and Literary

Composition and Publication History

Essays Moral, Political, and Literary is the conventional modern title for a set of essay collections by David Hume that evolved over nearly two decades. Hume first published Essays, Moral and Political in two volumes (1741 and 1742). These early essays were aimed at a broad, literate public and were written in a more polished, literary style than his earlier A Treatise of Human Nature, which had met with limited success.

In 1752 Hume issued the Political Discourses, a separate volume concentrating on economic and political topics. Over time he revised, rearranged, added, and omitted essays across these collections. In 1758 he brought many of them together under the more comprehensive title Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects, within which the section commonly known today as Essays Moral, Political, and Literary took shape.

The contents therefore vary between eighteenth‑century editions and modern scholarly editions. Typically included are essays on moral philosophy (“Of the Standard of Taste,” “Of the Passions”), political theory (“Of the Original Contract,” “Of the First Principles of Government”), economic and fiscal policy (“Of Commerce,” “Of the Balance of Trade”), as well as pieces on aesthetics, literary criticism, religion, and intellectual history. Hume regularly revised both arguments and stylistic details, reflecting his concern to make philosophical ideas accessible while responsive to contemporary debates in Britain and on the Continent.

Themes and Philosophical Content

The essays extend Hume’s empiricist and skeptical program into practical, social, and cultural domains. They are generally less technical than his treatises, but presuppose many of the same commitments about human nature and knowledge.

A major group of essays addresses morality and the passions. Hume develops a sentimentalist account of ethics, arguing that moral judgments arise from feeling rather than from pure reason. While reason informs us of facts and causal relations, he maintains that our approvals and disapprovals depend on human sentiments such as sympathy. In essays on the passions and on tragedy, he illustrates how emotions can be mixed, redirected, and shaped by reflection and social life, rather than being simply raw impulses.

In political philosophy, Hume’s essays explore the foundations of government, political obedience, and constitutional forms. In “Of the Original Contract,” he critically examines social contract theories associated with thinkers like John Locke. Hume contends that most governments actually arise from historical accident, conquest, and gradual habit rather than from explicit agreements. Nevertheless, he still emphasizes political consent in a broad sense, understood as the long‑term acquiescence and allegiance of the governed. He also analyzes the role of faction, party conflict, and forms of monarchy and republic, treating political stability as dependent on human psychology, economic circumstances, and institutional design.

A third major area is economic thought. Essays such as “Of Commerce,” “Of Money,” and “Of the Balance of Trade” are often seen as early contributions to classical political economy. Hume defends the benefits of commerce, arguing that trade, industry, and refinement of the arts tend to promote not only wealth but also sociability, learning, and political moderation. He criticizes mercantilist ideas that treat trade as a zero‑sum competition for bullion, and he presents an early version of the price‑specie flow mechanism, explaining how money flows and price adjustments prevent one nation from permanently hoarding precious metals at the expense of others.

Other essays investigate aesthetics and cultural criticism. In “Of the Standard of Taste,” Hume confronts the problem of whether judgments of beauty and artistic merit can be more than merely subjective. He acknowledges wide variation in taste, yet proposes criteria for a “true judge,” including delicacy of sentiment, practice, comparison, and freedom from prejudice. On this view, standards of taste emerge from the convergent judgments of suitably prepared critics over time, rather than from abstract rules or mere personal preference.

The volume also includes essays on religion, superstition, and toleration. Hume distinguishes between forms of superstition and enthusiasm, considering their respective political and psychological effects. While critical of religious excess, he treats belief as a natural phenomenon to be explained in terms of fear, hope, and ignorance, rather than simply condemned. Some essays touch on the social usefulness of moderate religion and on the dangers when religious passions align with factional politics.

Throughout, Hume employs a method that combines empirical observation, historical example, and modest generalization. Rather than deriving political or moral conclusions from a priori principles, he looks to common life, experience, and historical records to draw probabilistic conclusions about human behavior and institutions.

Place in Hume’s Philosophy and Later Reception

The philosophical significance of Essays Moral, Political, and Literary lies partly in the way it complements Hume’s more systematic writings. The essays apply the arguments of the Treatise and the Enquiries—for example, the dependence of belief on custom, or the centrality of sentiment—within concrete domains such as government, trade, and artistic judgment. They therefore provide an accessible entry point to Hume’s thought and show how his epistemology and philosophy of mind underpin his practical views.

Historically, these essays were among Hume’s most successful works in his own lifetime. Whereas the Treatise was largely ignored, the essays went through multiple editions, were translated, and were widely discussed in Britain and Europe. They contributed to the Scottish Enlightenment, intersecting with the work of thinkers such as Adam Smith, Adam Ferguson, and William Robertson, and they helped to shape discussions of political economy and constitutional government in the later eighteenth century.

In later philosophy, the essays have influenced debates in moral philosophy, particularly regarding the role of sentiment versus reason, and in aesthetics, where “Of the Standard of Taste” remains a central text. Political theorists draw on Hume’s analyses of authority, custom, and institutional design as an alternative to contractarian models. Economists and historians of economic thought continue to examine his essays on commerce and money as precursors to later classical economics.

Modern scholarship frequently highlights the essays’ stylistic features: Hume’s ironic tone, his use of historical narrative, and his effort to address both philosophers and a broader educated public. Some interpreters emphasize the unity of his project across technical and popular writings; others stress tensions between his skeptical principles and the practical recommendations he makes. The essays thus occupy a pivotal place in understanding both Hume’s overall philosophy and the broader intellectual culture of the Enlightenment.