Politische Philosophie und Staatsverstaendnis in David Humes Essays

Abstract

David Hume’s Essays are landmarks in the development of a science of politics and economics. Written against the background of Scotland’s accession to the United Kingdom, Hume’s main interests are various macrophenomena or, more precisely, the mechanisms of socio-economic change, general patterns of evolution, and the distinction between genuinely causal relations and contingent correlations. Despite their fragmentary style, the Essays give a quite different picture of Hume the social and political philosopher from the skeptical texts of the Treatise and Enquiries. During his lifetime Hume was most famous for his essays, which had a strong impact on the authors of the Federalist Papers and, later, John Stuart Mill.