Hume (1711-76) was a Scottish Enlightenment philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist who is best known today for his highly influential system of philosophical empiricism, sceptiscism, and naturalism. Beginning with his A Treatise of Human Nature (1738) he strove to create a totally naturalistic science of man that examined the psychological basis of human nature. Against philosophical rationalists, he held that passion rather than reason governs human behaviour and argued against the existence of innate ideas, positing that all human knowledge is founded solely on experience. These Political Discourses (which form Part II of his Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary within Vol. 1 of the larger Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects) were first published in 1752. This edition includes an introduction by William Bell Robertson, author of Foundations of Political Economy, Slavery of Labour, etc.