Hume's Sceptical Enlightenment

Ryu Susato is Professor of Intellectual History at Kansai University (Osaka, Japan). He graduated from Waseda University and received his PhD from Keio University. He has published several articles in the Journal of the History of Ideas, Hume Studies and Modern Intellectual History. He is also a joint-translator of the Japanese edition of the Stuart volumes of Hume’s History of England (forthcoming).

• Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations and conventions; 1. Introduction; 2. ‘The empire of the imagination’: The association of ideas in Hume’s social philosophy; 3. ‘What is Established?’: Hume’s Social Philosophy of Opinion 4. ‘Refinement’ and ‘Vicious Luxury’: Hume’s Nuanced Defence of Luxury; 5. Taming ‘the tyranny of priests’: Hume’s advocacy of religious establishments; 6. ‘To refine the democracy’: Hume’s perfect commonwealth as a development of his political science; 7. Human society ‘in perpetual flux’: Hume’s pendulum theory of civilisation; 8.‘The Prince of Sceptics’ and ‘The Prince of Historians’: Hume’s Influence and Image in Early Nineteenth-Century Britain; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

A generation ago, Duncan Forbes lamented the 'terrible campaign country' confronted by those seeking the 'essential continuity of Hume’s thought'. Ryu Susato takes on that challenge. His nuanced account of Hume’s social and political writings – including the History of England – finds continuity in what he aptly defines as Hume’s Sceptical Enlightenment.