An Abstract of the Treatise of Human Nature
This anonymous presentation selects causation to make the Treatise’s project accessible and explain how habit organizes our inferences.
Understanding the text
Attribution to Hume is now widely accepted; the Abstract is not a balanced condensation of all three books.
Key points
- 01
Example
Two colliding billiard balls isolate the difference between observing succession and knowing necessity.
- 02
Inference
Past experience supplies no logical demonstration of nature’s future uniformity.
- 03
Belief
The force with which an idea is conceived helps distinguish believing from merely imagining.
How to read it
Read it after the Treatise’s sections on causation. Identify presentational choices aimed at a new reader and the matters the summary leaves aside.
Editions & sources
Summaries and key points are original editorial interpretations. They accompany reading the work and do not replace an edition of the text. Editorial method ↗