An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding: A Critical Edition. - Review - book review

An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding: A Critical Edition. Thomas L. Beauchamp, editor. Clarendon Press, Oxford. [pound]40.00. 344 pages. ISBN 0-19-825060-6. Prof Beauchamp, one of the editors of the Clarendon Edition of the Works of David Hume, has prepared what must be the definitive edition of Hume's famous study first published in 1748.

This book is regarded by many as the 'Bible' of the Enlightenment in which a faith in God was transferred to science and to man's ability to reason which would, it was thought, led him to a world he could understand and control. The full weight of modern textural studies has been utilised to give students of the eighteenth century philosopher a complete and accurate text. This edition is based on the 1772 edition whose publication Hume himself supervised. There is a 107-page introduction which concentrates on the book's 'origins, evolution and reception'. There are 76 pages of editor's annotations, a useful five-page glossary, 65 pages filled with an 'editorial append ix' which discusses emendations and substantive variants, a biographical appendix, a reference list and a catalogue of Hume's references.

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