hume - my-731

hume - my-731, książki, Philosphy

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MY OWN LIFEDavid Hume17775/1/95Copyright 1995, James Fieser (jfieser@utm.edu). See end note fordetails on copyright and editing conventions. This is a workingdraft; please report errors.[1]Editor's note: Anticipating his death, Hume wrote <My Own Life> inApril 1776 for inclusion in the next edition of his <Essays andTreatises on Several Subjects>. His instructions are given in letterto Adam Smith: "You will find among my Papers a very inoffensivePiece, called <My own Life>, which I composed a few days before Ileft Edinburgh, which I thought, as did all my Friends, that myLife was despaired of. There can be no Objection, that this smallpiece should be sent to Messrs Strahan and Cadell and theProprietors of my other Works to be prefixed to any future Editionof them" (<Letters>, Greig, Vol. 2, p. 318). In March of 1777,Hume's <Life> and Smith's <Letter from Adam Smith, LL.D. to WilliamStrahan, Esq.> (the latter of which describes the last four monthsof Hume's life) were published under the title <The Life of DavidHume, Esq. written by himself>. The pamphlet is prefaced with thefollowing note by the editor:M/R\ H/UME\, a few months before his death, wrote the followingshort account of his own life; and, in a codicil to his will,desired that it might be prefixed to the next edition of hisWorks. That edition cannot be published for a considerabletime. The Editor, in the mean while, in order to serve thepurchasers of the former editions; and, at the same time, togratify the impatience of the public curiosity; has thoughtproper to publish it separately, without altering even thetitle or superscription, which was written in Mr. Hume's ownhand on the cover of the manuscript.In spite of the editor's claim of not altering Hume's piece,liberties were taken with spelling, punctuation and minor wording.This is evident from a comparison with the original manuscript ofHume's <Life> which is in the Royal Society of Edinburgh (reprintedin Greig, Vol. 1, pp. 1-7). A pre-print of the Hume's <Life> andSmith's <Letter> appeared in <The Scots Magazine>, January 1777,Vol. 39, pp. 1-7. The <Scots Magazine> version is evidently based onthe text of the published 1777 pamphlet, rather than the manuscript;for, although it departs slightly in punctuation, it retains thealtered wording found in the 1777 pamphlet. Contrary to Hume'swishes, his <Life> was not included in the subsequent edition of his<Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects>. The reviews of Hume's<Life> reproduced almost the complete text of Hume's autobiographywithin their reviews. The <Critical Review> concludes noting that"The whole of this narrative breathes ingenuousness, and a nobleconsciousness of integrity, not without that solicitude of literary,as well as moral fame, which we may suppose to have animated awriter, so distinguished, from his earliest years, for his ardor inthe pursuits of philosophy and general learning" (1777, Vol. 43, pp.222-227). The <London Review> relates that Hume held at sword'spoint the editor of <The History of the Works of the Learned> fortheir 1740 review of the <Treatise> (see editor's note to the HumeArchives edition of the review of the <Treatise>). The reviewer alsoexpresses surprise that Hume fails to mention Beattie's <Essay>since, "It were difficult to speak of this work with more contemptthan, we are well assured, Mr. Hume entertained of it." Otherpublished reactions to Hume's <Life> quickly appeared, many of whichwere negative. Although most of the negative reaction was aimed atSmith's <Letter> (see editor's not to the Hume Archives edition ofSmith's <Letter>), criticism was also directed at Hume's essay. Forexample, an anonymous author comments in the <Weekly Magazine, orEdinburgh Amusement> (Vol. 36, 364-365) that, "Though I am in somedegree an admirer of Mr. Hume's character and of his writings, yet Iam sorry to see that little biographical account of himself imposedon the public." The author sees the work as having "an obvious,although, perhaps, an undesigned tendency" to subvert a person's"future and eternal welfare." The author concludes that the Life is"a dry, unsatisfactory narrative; as little answering its title asthe expectation of the public." Hume's <Life> was published again in1777, 1778, and in several 19th century editions of his collectedworks. The following is from the first 1777 edition.* * * *MY OWN LIFEIT Is difficult for a man to speak long of himself withoutVanity; therefore, I shall be short. It may be thought an instanceof vanity that I pretend at all to write my life; but this Narrativeshall contain little more than the History of my Writings; as,indeed, almost all my life has been spent in Literary pursuits andoccupations. The first success of most of my writings was not suchas to be an object of vanity.I was born the 26th of April 1711, old style, at Edinburgh. Iwas of a good family, both by father and mother: my father's familyis a branch of the Earl of Home's, or Hume's; and my ancestors hadbeen proprietors of the estate, which my brother possesses, forseveral generations. My mother was daughter of Sir David Falconer,President of the College of Justice: the title of Lord Halkertoncame by succession to her brother.My family, however, was not rich, and being myself a youngerbrother, my patrimony, according to the mode of my country, was ofcourse very slender. My father, who passed for a man of parts, diedwhen I was an infant, leaving me, with an elder brother and asister, under the care of our mother, a woman of singular merit,who, though young and handsome, devoted herself entirely to therearing and educating of her children. I passed through the ordinarycourse of education with success, and was seized very early with apassion for literature, which has been the ruling passion of mylife, and the great source of my enjoyments. My studiousdisposition, my sobriety, and my industry, gave my family a notionthat the law was a proper profession for me; but I found anunsurmountable aversion to everything but the pursuits of philosophyand general learning; and while they fancied I was poring upon Voetand Vinnius, Cicero and Virgil were the authors which I was secretlydevouring.My very slender fortune, however, being unsuitable to this planof life, and my health being a little broken by my ardentapplication, I was tempted, or rather forced, to make a very feebletrial for entering into a more active scene of life. In 1734, I wentto Bristol, with some recommendations to eminent merchants, but in afew months found that scene totally unsuitable to me. I went over toFrance, with a view of prosecuting my studies in a country retreat;and I there laid that plan of life, which I have steadily andsuccessfully pursued. I resolved to make a very rigid frugalitysupply my deficiency of fortune, to maintain unimpaired myindependency, and to regard every object as contemptible, except theimprovement of my talents in literature.During my retreat in France, first at Reims, but chiefly at LaFleche, in Anjou, I composed my <Treatise of Human Nature>. Afterpassing three years very agreeably in that country, I came over toLondon in 1737. In the end of 1738, I published my Treatise, andimmediately went down to my mother and my brother, who lived at hiscountry-house, and was employing himself very judiciously andsuccessfully in the improvement of his fortune.Never literary attempt was more unfortunate than my Treatise ofHuman Nature. It fell <dead-born from the press>, without reachingsuch distinction, as even to excite a murmur among the zealots. Butbeing naturally of a cheerful and sanguine temper, I very soonrecovered the blow, and prosecuted with great ardor my studies inthe country. In 1742, I printed at Edinburgh the first part of myEssays the world was favourably received, and soon made me entirelyforget my former disappointment. I continued with my mother andbrother in the country, and in that time recovered the knowledge ofthe Greek language, which I had too much neglected in my earlyyouth.In 1745, I received a letter from the Marquis of Annandale,inviting me to come and live with him in England; I found also, thatthe friends and family of that young noble man were desirous ofputting him under my care and direction, for the state of his mindand health required it. I lived with him a twelvemonth. Myappointments during that time made a considerable accession to mysmall fortune. I then received an invitation from General St. Clairto attend him as a secretary to his expedition, which was at firstmeant against Canada, but ended in an incursion on the coast ofFrance. Next year, to wit, 1747, I received an invitation from theGeneral to attend him in the same station in his military embassy tothe courts of Vienna and Turin... [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]