Early Responses to Hume's Life and Reputation Book

The skeptical and anti-religious bent of Hume's work generated hundreds of critical responses, many of which were scholarly commentaries. Some writers, however, focused less on Hume's philosophical and historical writings and more on his reputation as a public figure. Friends and foes alike recorded anecdotes about him that appeared after his death in scattered periodicals and books. Hume's biographers have drawn liberally on this material, but in most cases the original sources are only summarized or briefly quoted. This set presents dozens of these biographical discussions of Hume—reset, annotated, and in their most complete form.