Hume’s Essays , Completing the Treatise

Abstract

Abstract: In this piece, I argue that Hume wrote his Essays to continue writing on political issues after he rather abruptly ended his Treatise , Book 3. Initially he wrote some essays in the vein of Addison and Steele, but he rejected these essays as “frivolous.” In writing on political issues, he became a master essayist and his essays withstood the test of time. “Political” should here be taken in the wider sense as topical issues which readers could immediately recognize as being relevant.