David Hume was one of the Philosophy and religion good articles, but it has been removed from the list. There are suggestions below for improving the article to meet the good article criteria. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Scotland, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Scotland and Scotland-related topics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.ScotlandWikipedia:WikiProject ScotlandTemplate:WikiProject ScotlandScotland
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Philosophy, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of content related to philosophy on Wikipedia. If you would like to support the project, please visit the project page, where you can get more details on how you can help, and where you can join the general discussion about philosophy content on Wikipedia.PhilosophyWikipedia:WikiProject PhilosophyTemplate:WikiProject PhilosophyPhilosophy
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Economics, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Economics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.EconomicsWikipedia:WikiProject EconomicsTemplate:WikiProject EconomicsEconomics
This article is within the scope of WikiProject History, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the subject of History on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.HistoryWikipedia:WikiProject HistoryTemplate:WikiProject Historyhistory
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Politics, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of politics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.PoliticsWikipedia:WikiProject PoliticsTemplate:WikiProject Politicspolitics
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Atheism, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of atheism on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.AtheismWikipedia:WikiProject AtheismTemplate:WikiProject AtheismAtheism
Add Atheism info box to all atheism related talk pages (use {{WikiProject Atheism}} or see info box)
Ensure atheism-related articles are members of Atheism by checking whether [[Category:Atheism]] has been added to atheism-related articles – and, where it hasn't, adding it.
Try to expand stubs. Ideas and theories about life, however, are prone to generating neologisms, so some stubs may be suitable for deletion (see deletion process).
State atheism needs a reassessment of its Importance level, as it has little to do with atheism and is instead an article about anti-theist/anti-religious actions of governments.
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Theology, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Theology on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.TheologyWikipedia:WikiProject TheologyTemplate:WikiProject TheologyTheology
The article does not currently contain mention of Humeanism, minimal Humeanism, Anti-Humeanism, and other related topics of interest to philosophers, particularly those interested in quantum mechanics. Since several such philosophers are notable enough to be included in WP (which can be verified by searching WP), and since Humeanism is a relevant aspect of QM research today (example citation: Australasian Journal of Philosophy), I hope that someone knowledgeable would add a short overview to this article soon, and at least the stub of an article on the subject. David Spector (talk) 16:42, 16 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
I noticed that the template in the Political Theory section was changed from Liberalism to Conservatism overnight and there did not seem to be much of a discussion in the Talk page. Since Hume seems to have traits of both liberalism and conservatism, perhaps it is best to remove the template altogether and add both Liberalism and Conservatism to his main interests. Here is the revision in question.
The article states that Hume's 'views served to reinforce the institution of racialised slavery in the later 18th century'.
I know that this is a quote from an academic, however it seems empty without explaining how Hume's ideas "reinforced" slavery. I find it quite unlikely that Hume's philosophy had any impact on the "reinforcing" of atlantic slavery, which had been an established institution for over 200 years. Knoterification (talk) 05:45, 5 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I read the article, which is by an expert on Hume. He is not referring to Hume's philosophy pe se, but his comment that 'negroes are naturally inferior to whites'. However the author does not say how this view of Hume's (hardly uncommon at the time) actually had any effect on slavery. A plausible mechanism would be if, for example, the opponents of abolition cited the great David Hume in their defence, and this was effective. But the author does not say that, so we are left in the dark. The writer also seems to confuse the slave trade with slavery, saying Hume was involved in the former by way of encouraging his patron to buy a slave plantation, which is just lazy. The two are - and were seen as - distinct, hence the different abolition dates. It would not surprise me if the claim about Hume's views affecting slavery was just as dubious. But what do we do? he is an expert. Note: I edited your comment because the title you gave it was way too long. LastDodo (talk) 11:50, 23 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]
I would just like to add the infamous quote Hume made about black people. The original footnote appears in a citation in this article here, but the revised version, which surely reflects his more considered thoughts on the matter, does not. Here it is in full:
I am apt to suspect the negroes to be naturally inferior to the whites. There scarcely ever was a civilized nation of that complexion, nor even any individual eminent either in action or speculation. No ingenious manufactures amongst them, no arts, no sciences. On the other hand, the most rude and barbarous of the whites, such as the ancient GERMANS, the present TARTARS, have still something eminent about them, in their valour, form of government, or some other particular. Such a uniform and constant difference could not happen, in so many countries and ages, if nature had not made an original distinction betwixt these breeds of men. Not to mention our colonies, there are NEGROE slaves dispersed all over EUROPE, of which none ever discovered any symptoms of ingenuity; tho' low people, without education, will start up amongst us, and distinguish themselves in every profession. In JAMAICA, indeed, they talk of one negroe as a man of parts and learning; but 'tis likely he is admired for very slender accomplishments, like a parrot, who speaks a few words plainly.
I think there is an argument for including this in the article. No doubt many people will come to this article precisely for this reason, and the article refers to the renaming of David Hume Tower to 40 George Square without stating exactly what Hume said. LastDodo (talk) 10:44, 13 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
level-4 vital article is rated B-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
