May 15, 2007
Hume on the perversions of John Locke:
18th century Scottish philosopher David Hume makes a dig at John Locke in the footnote to one of his most famous books - A Treatise of Human Nature.
Hume wrote that completing the Treatise, at the age of 26, affected his mental health, causing 'philosophical melancholy and delirium'.
Footnote 1. I here make use of these terms, impression and idea, in a sense different from what is usual, and I hope this liberty will be allowed me. Perhaps I rather restore the word, idea, to its original sense, from which Mr LOCKE had perverted it, in making it stand for all our perceptions.
Link to Wikipedia page on David Hume.
Link to online copy of A Treatise of Human Nature.
