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Primary sourceBook1739-1740

A Treatise of Human Nature

David Hume · 1739-1740

David Hume's 1739 philosophical work, said to underlie the theory of sympathy in Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments.

Hume's own first and most ambitious philosophical work, written in his twenties.

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Title page of the 1739 first edition of A Treatise of Human Nature, Volume I, Of the Understanding, printed for John Noon in London. Yellowed paper with black serif print, a Latin epigraph from Tacitus, and a handwritten mark in the top right corner.
David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature, London, 1739.

About this source

What it is

A Treatise of Human Nature is a philosophical work by the Scottish philosopher David Hume, published in 1739 and 1740, exploring human understanding, the passions and morality through an empirical approach modelled on natural science.

Why it matters

Hume's Treatise, reportedly the book confiscated from Smith as a student at Oxford, laid groundwork that Smith drew on when developing his own account of sympathy in The Theory of Moral Sentiments. The connection between the two men shows how closely Smith's economic and moral thought grew out of the wider circle of Scottish Enlightenment philosophy, with Hume as a close friend and intellectual influence.

Look closer

  • Why might a university have confiscated this book from a student in the 18th century?
  • What does the title page's design and printing tell us about books of this period?
  • How might ideas about sympathy and the passions connect to later ideas about morality and economics?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of David Hume on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Title page of a book reading 'Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding' by the author of 'Essays Moral and Political.' Below is an ornamental floral emblem and the imprint 'London: Printed for A. Millar, opposite Katharine-Street, in the Strand. MDCCXLVIII.'Book

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Title page of the 1779 London second edition of David Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. Text reads: DIALOGUES CONCERNING NATURAL RELIGION, BY DAVID HUME, Esq., THE SECOND EDITION, a short horizontal rule, LONDON: MDCCLXXIX.Book

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Oil portrait of a man with white powdered hair, wearing a red coat with ornate gold embroidered trim, white lace cravat and lace cuffs, resting his hand on a stack of leather-bound books against a dark background.Painting

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Allan Ramsay · 1766

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