Hume's Political Discourses

by David Hume

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A discussion of prodigality distinguishes that vice from refinement in the arts and says the vice appears much less frequent in cultivated ages. The discussion credits industry and gain with producing frugality among the lower and middle ranks and in busy professions. The argument describes idleness as the great source of prodigality at all times.

The account of the magistrate says that very often one vice can only be cured by another, requiring preference for the less harmful to society. The discussion acknowledges many ills from excessive luxury but generally prefers luxury to sloth and idleness, which would commonly succeed it.

About the author

David Hume

David Hume (1711-1776) was a Scottish philosopher and historian and a leading figure of the Scottish Enlightenment. His skeptical, empiricist approach to knowledge, causation, and religion influenced Kant and generations after him. He also wrote widely read essays and a popular History of England that made him famous in his lifetime.