1711-1776. Scottish philosopher. A Treatise
of Human Nature 1740 is a central text of
British empiricism. Hume denies the
possibility of going beyond the subjective
experiences of `ideas' and `impressions'. The
effect of this position is to invalidate
metaphysics. His History of Great Britain
1754-62 was popular within his own lifetime
but A Treatise of Human Nature was
indifferently received. He shared many of the
beliefs of the British empiricist school (see
empiricism), including those of Locke. Hume's
Law in moral philosophy states that it is
never possible to deduce evaluative
conclusions from factual premises; this has
come to be known as the `is/ought problem'.