Peace, Authority, and Liberty: David Hume on the Making of Modern Politics

Abstract

This thesis provides a comprehensive interpretation of David Hume as a theorist of modern politics. The general claim is that Hume’s analysis of modern politics, in contrast to politics in the ancient world or feudal Europe, constitutes a major theme and a unifying thread of his political thought, as it appeared first in the Treatise of Human Nature, then in his early essays and Political Discourses, and finally in the History of England. For nearly five decades, Hume’s relation to modern politics and his contributions to early modern political thought have received much scholarly attention, with commentators interpreting him as a Tory, a Whig, a conservative, a liberal, a utilitarian, a theorist of commercial society, or even a prophet of capitalism. This thesis moves beyond these labels by returning to Hume’s historical understanding of modern Europe, which was one of the foundations of his political thought. Hume regarded the turn of the sixteenth century as the beginning of the modern age, when historic changes that took place across Western Europe resulted in the decline of the feudal barons and paved the way for the establishment of absolute monarchies, the first distinctively ‘modern’ states. Hume was greatly interested in understanding how these changes shaped modern politics in both domestic and foreign arenas. This thesis therefore examines Hume’s analysis of 1) the international balance of power as ‘the aim of modern politics’, 2) the modern state and modern government, 3) political legitimacy and political obligation, and 4) modern liberty compared with ancient liberty. Overall, Hume was both an analyst and an advocate of modern politics. He rejected the relevance of the political experience of ancient republics or feudal institutions to guiding modern politics. Instead, he saw the future of Europe residing in large-scale, complex, commercial, and ‘civilized’ monarchies, which all featured the rule of law and personal liberty. Moreover, by transforming the classical republican ideals of libertà and grandezza into the modern state’s goals of personal liberty and economic prosperity, Hume played a pivotal role in the birth of liberal political thinking. The contribution of this thesis is threefold. First, and most importantly, it contributes to Hume scholarship by supplying the single-most detailed study to date of Hume’s understanding of modern politics. Second, it intervenes in ongoing scholarly debates over the respective roles of republicanism and liberalism in the history of eighteenth-century political thought, emphasising Hume’s importance in the transformation from the former to the latter. Third, by showcasing how Hume developed his political thought on the basis of his historical understanding of modern Europe, this thesis also echoes recent calls for attending to the importance of history in political theory.

Date of Award	1 May 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	King's College London
Supervisor	Paul Sagar (Supervisor) & Robin Douglass (Supervisor)