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Audiobook edition · 6 h 27 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if your trust in tomorrow rests not on reason, but on habit?
In An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, David Hume asks what we can really know—and where that knowledge begins. He traces ideas back to experience, separates impressions from thoughts, and examines how the mind connects them. His central question reaches into daily life: why do we expect the future to resemble the past?
Hume brings this question to cause and effect, free will, miracles, and the claims of religion and metaphysics. When one billiard ball moves another, what do we actually see—and what do we merely assume? In short essays, his calm, often witty voice makes difficult ideas clear without taking away their power to unsettle us.
What you’ll discover
- The roots of thought Explore Hume’s distinction between impressions and ideas, and his claim that thought begins in experience.
- The puzzle of cause Look closely at a moving billiard ball and question the hidden power you assume connects events.
- Habit beneath certainty Discover why Hume places custom, rather than reason, at the heart of everyday expectations.
- Freedom and human action Follow his argument that freedom and necessity need not stand against each other.
- Evidence and useful doubt Consider how Hume weighs reports of miracles and examines the limits of scepticism itself.
Who will love it
Dieses Buch richtet sich an neugierige Leser, die scharfe Fragen über Wissen, Belege und Überzeugungen schätzen, an Studierende der Philosophie und Naturwissenschaften und an alle, die alltägliche Denkgewohnheiten prüfen möchten.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Sorgfältiges Nachdenken über den Geist dient dem Alltag
- Jede Vorstellung ist die Kopie eines früheren Eindrucks
- Tatsachen beruhen auf Erfahrung, nicht auf reinem Denken
- Gewohnheit, nicht Vernunft, führt uns durchs Leben
- Ursache bedeutet ständige Verbindung und Erwartung
- Freiheit und Notwendigkeit sind keine Gegensätze
- Zeugenaussagen an Naturgesetzen messen
- Zweifel sollte maßvoll und lebensnah sein
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Eine Untersuchung über den menschlichen Verstand in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Eine Untersuchung über den menschlichen Verstand
by David Hume · 1748
Ein Kind berührt eine Kerzenflamme und spürt Schmerz, und Hume fragt, welche Überlegung es denselben Schmerz erneut erwarten lässt.
Challenging2–5 hours to read2 languages
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In short
A child touches a candle flame and feels pain. From then on, that child keeps a hand away from every candle.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Sorgfältiges Nachdenken über den Geist dient dem Alltag
Hume beginnt mit 2 Arten der Moralphilosophie. Die eine betrachtet Menschen als handelnde und fühlende Wesen und macht Tugend durch lebendige Beispiele anziehend. Die andere betrachtet sie als Vernunftwesen und sucht die Grundsätze hinter Gedanken und Urteilen. Die meisten Leser bevorzugen die erste, weil sie das tägliche Handeln berührt.
Doch die sorgfältige Art darf nicht verdrängt werden. Auch der gefällige Schriftsteller braucht sie, wie ein Maler vom Studium der Muskeln und Knochen profitiert. Genauigkeit verbessert Schönheit.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 12 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1748
- Language
- Deutsch
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Hume, David. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/an-enquiry-concerning-human-understanding.
Hume, D. (2026). An enquiry concerning human understanding. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/an-enquiry-concerning-human-understanding (Original work published 1748)
Hume, David. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/an-enquiry-concerning-human-understanding.
@book{hume2026enquiry,
author = {Hume, David},
title = {An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/an-enquiry-concerning-human-understanding},
note = {First published 1748}
}
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Worum geht es in Eine Untersuchung über den menschlichen Verstand?
Das Buch untersucht, woher unsere Vorstellungen stammen und wie wir Tatsachen erkennen. Hume betrachtet Ursache und Wirkung, Gewohnheit, Willensfreiheit, Wunder und Zweifel. Er vertritt die Ansicht, dass allein Erfahrung unsere Überzeugungen über die Welt leiten kann.
Was ist das Induktionsproblem in Humes Untersuchung?
Hume fragt, warum wir erwarten, dass die Zukunft der Vergangenheit ähnelt. Kein logischer Beweis zeigt das, und Erfahrung kann es nicht beweisen, ohne es vorauszusetzen. Ihm zufolge überbrückt Gewohnheit, ein Instinkt des Geistes, diese Kluft.
Was meint Hume mit Eindrücken und Vorstellungen?
Eindrücke sind die lebhaften Wahrnehmungen, die wir beim Sehen, Hören, Lieben oder Begehren empfinden. Vorstellungen sind ihre blasseren Kopien im Denken und Erinnern. Hume zufolge stammt jede Vorstellung aus einem früheren Eindruck.
The author
David Hume
1711–1776 · Scottish philosopher and historian
David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, economist, and historian born in Edinburgh in 1711. He lived in Scotland and France. He published A Treatise of Human Nature in 1739–1740 and An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding in 1748. He died in Edinburgh in 1776. Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion appeared after his death in 1779.
More by David Hume
Alle Bücher des Autors ansehenMore like this
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