If we take in our hand any volume; of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance; let us ask, Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to the flames: for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.

Hume advocated a compatibilist theory of free will that proved extremely influential on subsequent moral philosophy. Of Miracles section X of the Enquiry was often publiDavid Humed separately. Here he reports that at the age of eighteen "there seem'd to be open'd up to me a new Scene of Thought.

Without direct impressions of a metaphysical "self" he concluded that humans have no actual conception of the self only of a bundle of sensations associated with the self. 26 April] 1711 – 25 August 1776) was a Scottish philosopher historian economist and essayist known especially for his philosophical empiricism and scepticism. Hume advocated a compatibilist theory of free will that proved extremely influential on subsequent moral philosophy.