Editing David Hume (section)

=== 1730s ===
Hume worked for four years on his first major work, ''A Treatise of Human Nature'', subtitled "Being an Attempt to Introduce the Experimental Method of Reasoning into Moral Subjects", completing it in 1738 at age 28. Although many scholars today consider the ''Treatise'' to be Hume's most important work and one of the most important books in Western philosophy, critics in Great Britain at the time described it as "abstract and unintelligible".{{sfn|Mossner|1950|p=195}} As Hume had spent most of his savings during those four years,{{sfn|Mossner|1950|p=193}} he resolved "to make a very rigid frugality supply [his] deficiency of fortune, to maintain unimpaired [his] independency, and to regard every object as contemptible except the improvements of [his] talents in literature".<ref name=":8">Hume, David. 1993 [1734]. "[[s:A kind of history of my life|A Kind of History of My Life]]." In ''The Cambridge Companion to Hume'', edited by D. F. Norton. Cambridge: [[Cambridge University Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0-521-38710-1}}.</ref>{{Rp|352}}

Despite the disappointment, Hume later wrote: "Being naturally of a cheerful and [[Humorism|sanguine]] temper, I soon recovered from the blow and prosecuted with great ardour my studies in the country."<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|352}} There, in an attempt to make his larger work better known and more intelligible, he published the ''[[A Treatise of Human Nature (Abstract)|An Abstract of a Book lately Published]]'' as a summary of the main doctrines of the ''Treatise'', without revealing its authorship.{{sfn|Hume|1740}} This work contained the same ideas, but with a shorter and clearer explanation. Although there has been some academic speculation as to the pamphlet's true author,{{sfn|Norton|1993|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=vv5ERpFQBCoC&dq=hume+abstract+author&pg=PA31 p. 31]}} it is generally regarded as Hume's creation.{{sfn|Redman|1997|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1faeMedY8k8C&dq=An+Abstract+of+a+Book+lately+Published%3B+Entitled&pg=PA175 p. 175, footnote 19]}}