David Hume

David Hume was born in Edinburgh in 1711. He began writing his Treatise of Human nature when he was 18 or 19. He spent periods of his life in the army, as a diplomat, and as a government minister - but his chief interests were in philosophy, literature, politics, economics, and history. His six volume History of England was published between 1752 and 1761. Hume was a leading figure of the Enlightenment and, by the time of his death in 1776, his writings were known throughout Europe.