Political Thought of David Hume

Aaron Alexander Zubia argues that the Epicurean roots of David Hume’s philosophy gave rise to liberalism’s unrelenting grip on the modern political imagination.Eighteenth-century Scottish philosopher David Hume has had an outsized impact on the political thinkers who came after him, from the nineteenth-century British Utilitarians to modern American social contract theorists. In this thorough and thoughtful new work, Aaron Alexander Zubia examines the forces that shaped Hume’s thinking within the broad context of intellectual history, with particular focus on the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus and the skeptical tradition.Zubia argues that through Hume’s influence, Epicureanism—which elevates utility over moral truth—became the foundation of liberal political philosophy, which continues to dominate and limit political discourse today.

“This book makes a timely and welcome contribution to the literature on Hume’s political philosophy by locating it in the traditions of Epicureanism and social contract thought as well as prospectively within the tradition of liberal political philosophy that flowed from the early modern period.” —Peter S. Fosl, author of Hume’s Scepticism: Pyrrhonian and Academic, "Aaron Zubia’s important book makes a robust case, historical, textual, and philosophical, for interpreting Hume as a modern Epicurean. In wrestling with the implications of the Humean project, he calls us to rejuvenate our political understanding with lost notions of the noble, the good, and the beautiful. His call is worth heeding." —Erik W. Matson, New Paternalism Meets Older Wisdom, "Zubia’s book is bold and consequential. This is a major intervention in political theory." —Pierre Force, author of Self-Interest before Adam Smith

Aaron Alexander Zubia is assistant professor of humanities at the University of Florida. His work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, National Review, Interpretation: A Journal of Political Philosophy, and Law & Liberty.