Hume David

Hume David

(1711-76) SCOTTISH ENLIGHTENMENT philosopher generally regarded as a main influence on modern EMPIRICISM. Hume's examination of deductive and inductive logic led him to see limitations in both, and made him sceptical about the claims of RATIONALISM. His own philosophical position emphasized a knowledge confined to ‘impressions’ and ‘ideas’, in which there could be no certainty about the form of a world beyond these, e.g. no basis for claims for ‘causality’. Although Hume also wrote at length on historical and social and economic topics, it is the methodological side of his thinking which has been important as an influence on social science (e.g. in discussions of the FACT-VALUE DISTINCTION), fostering an empirical emphasis in the study of society

Collins Dictionary of Sociology, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2000