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ESSAYS ON SUICIDE AND THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL

Essays on Suicide and the

Immortality of the Soul:

The Complete 1783 Edition

By David Hume

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ESSAYS ON SUICIDE AND THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL

Editor's Note: Hume's essays on the suicide and the immortality of the soul were

completed around 1755 and printed as part of a book of essays titled Five

Dissertations . When pre -release copies of Five Dissertations provoked controversy

among influential readers, Hume and his printer Andrew Millar agreed to have the

two essays physically removed from the printed copies. They were replaced with an

essay titled "Of the Standard of Taste," and the book of essays appeared in 1757

under the title Four Dissertations . Rumors about the two withdrawn essays

circulated for years, and clande stine copies appeared anonymously in French (1770)

and later in English (1777). In 1783 the two essays were published more openly, and

this time with Hume's name attached. Like the 1770 and 1777 publications, the 1783

publication was not authorized by Hume . Along with Hume's two essays, the

anonymous editor of the 1783 edition included his own critical notes to Hume's two

pieces, and excerpts from Rousseau's La Nouvelle Heloise on the subject of suicide.

The contents, then, of the 1783 publication are as follows:

o Preface: p. iii

o Essay I. On Suicide (Hume): p. 1

o Essay II. On the immortality of the soul (Hume): p. 23

o Anti-Suicide (anonymous editor): p. 39

o Immortality of the Soul (anonymous editor): p. 53

o Letter 114 from Rousseau's Eloisa : p. 67

o Letter 115 from Rousseau's Eloisa : p. 90

A copy of the original two essays as they were printed in Five Dissertations is in the possession of the

National Library of Scotland. That copy contains nineteen corrections in Hume's hand and is Hume's

final surviving revision of the essays. None of these corrections appear in the 1783 edition.

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ESSAYS ON SUICIDE AND THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL

ESSAYS

SUICIDE ,

AND

THE IMMORTALITY

OF THE

SOUL ,

ASCRIBED TO THE LATE

DAVID HUME , ESQ.

Never before published.

With REMARKS, intended as an Antidote to the

Poison contained in these Performances,

BY THE EDITOR.

TO WHICH IS ADDED,

TWO LETTERS ON SUICIDE,

FROM ROSSEAU'S ELOISA.

{iii}

PREFACE

THESE two Essays on Suicide and the Immortality of the Soul , though not published in any

edition of his works, are generally attributed to the late ingenious Mr. Hume.

The well-known contempt of this eminent philosopher for the common convictions of

mankind, raised an apprehension of the contents from the very title of these pieces. But the

celebrity of the author's name, renders them, notwithstanding, in some degree objects of

great curiosity.

Owing to this circumstance, a few copies have been clandestinely circulated, at a large price,

for some time, but without any comment. The very mystery attending this mode of selling

them, made them more an object of request than they would otherwise have been. {iv}

The present publication comes abroad under no such restraint, and possesses very superior

advantages. The Notes annexed are intended to expose the sophistry contained in the original

Essays, and may shew how little we have to fear from the adversaries of these great truths,

from the pitiful figure which even Mr. Hume makes in thus violently exhausting his last

strength in an abortive attempt to traduce or discredit them.

The two very matterly Letters from the Eloisa of Rosseau on the subject of Suicide , have

been much celebrated, and we hope will be considered as materially increasing the value of

this curious collection.

The admirers of Mr. Hume will be pleased with seeing the remains of a favourite author

rescued in this manner from that oblivion to which the prejudices of his countrymen had, in

all appearance, consigned them; and even the religious part of mankind have some reason of

triumph from the striking instance here given of truth's superiority to error, even when

error has all the advantage of an elegant genius, and a great literary reputation to

recommend it.

{1}

ESSAY I.

ON SUICIDE .

O NE considerable advantage that arises from Philosophy, consists in the

sovereign antidote which it affords to superstition and false religion. All

other remedies against that pestilent distemper are vain, or at least

uncertain. Plain good sense and the practice of the world, which alone serve

most purposes of life, are here found ineffectual: History as well as daily

experience furnish instances of men endowed with the {2} strongest capacity

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ESSAYS ON SUICIDE AND THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL

for business and affairs, who have all their lives crouched under slavery to

the grossest superstition. Even gaiety and sweetness of temper, which infuse a

balm into every other wound, afford no remedy to so virulent a poison; as we

may particularly observe of the fair sex, who tho' commonly possest of their

rich presents of nature, feel many of their joys blasted by this importunate

intruder. But when found Philosophy has once gained possession of the mind,

superstition is effectually excluded, and one may fairly affirm that her

triumph over this enemy is more complete than over most of the vices and

imperfections incident to human nature. Love or anger, ambition or avarice,

have their root in the temper and affection, which the soundest reason is

scarce ever able fully to correct, but superstition being founded on false

opinion, must immediately vanish when true philosophy has inspired juster

sentiments of superior powers. The contest is here more equal between the

distemper and the medicine, {3} and nothing can hinder the latter from

proving effectual but its being false and sophisticated.

IT will here be superfluous to magnify the merits of Philosophy by displaying the pernicious

tendency of that vice of which it cures the human mind. ([editor's note] 1) The superstitious

man says Tully 2 is miserable in every scene, in every incident in life; even sleep itself, which

banishes all other cares of unhappy mortals, affords to him matter of new terror; while he

examines his dreams, and finds in those visions of the night prognostications of future

calamities. I may add that tho' death alone can put a full period to his misery, he dares not

fly to this refuge, but still prolongs a miserable existence from a vain fear left he offend his

Maker, by using the power, with which that beneficent being has endowed him. The presents

of God and nature are ravished from us by this {4} cruel enemy, and notwithstanding that

one step would remove us from the regions of pain and sorrow, her menaces still chain us

down to a hated being which she herself chiefly contributes to render miserable.

'TIS observed by such as have been reduced by the calamities of life to the necessity of

employing this fatal remedy, that if the unseasonable care of their friends deprive them of

that species of Death which they proposed to themselves, they seldom venture upon any

other, or can summon up so much resolution a second time as to execute their purpose. So

great is our horror of death, that when it presents itself under any form, besides that to

which a man has endeavoured to reconcile his imagination, it acquires new terrors and

overcomes his feeble courage: But when the menaces of superstition are joined to this

natural timidity, no wonder it quite deprives men of all power over their lives, since even

many pleasures and enjoyments, {5} to which we are carried by a strong propensity, are torn

from us by this inhuman tyrant. Let us here endeavour to restore men to their native liberty,

by examining all the common arguments against Suicide, and shewing that that action may

be free from every imputation of guilt or blame, according to the sentiments of all the antient

philosophers. ([editor's note] 2)

IF Suicide be criminal, it must be a transgression of our duty either to God, our neighbour,

or ourselves. -- To prove that suicide is no transgression of our duty to God, the following

considerations may perhaps suffice. In order to govern the material world, the almighty

Creator has established general and immutable laws, by which all bodies, from the greatest

planet to the smallest particle of matter, are maintained in their proper sphere and function.

To govern the animal world, he has endowed all living creatures with bodily and mental

powers; with senses, passions, {6} appetites, memory, and judgement, by which they are

impelled or regulated in that course of life to which they are destined. These two distinct

principles of the material and animal world, continually encroach upon each other, and

mutually retard or forward each others operation. The powers of men and of all other

animals are restrained and directed by the nature and qualities of the surrounding bodies,

and the modifications and actions of these bodies are incessantly altered by the operation of

all animals. Man is stopt by rivers in his passage over the surface of the earth; and rivers,

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ESSAYS ON SUICIDE AND THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL

when properly directed, lend their force to the motion of machines, which serve to the use of

man. But tho' the provinces of the material and animal powers are not kept entirely

separate, there results from thence no discord or disorder in the creation; on the contrary,

from the mixture, union, and contrast of all the various powers of inanimate bodies and

living creatures, arises that sympathy, harmony, {7} and proportion, which affords the

surest argument of supreme wisdom. The providence of the Deity appears not immediately

in any operation, but governs every thing by those general and immutable laws, which have

been established from the beginning of time. All events, in one sense, may be pronounced the

action of the Almighty, they all proceed from those powers with which he has endowed his

creatures. A house which falls by its own weight, is not brought to ruin by his providence,

more than one destroyed by the hands of men; nor are the human faculties less his

workmanship, than the laws of motion and gravitation. When the passions play, when the

judgment dictates, when the limbs obey; this is all the operation of God, and upon these

animate principles, as well as upon the inanimate, has he established the government of the

universe. Every event is alike important in the eyes of that infinite being, who takes in at one

glance the most distant regions of space, and {8} remotest periods of time. There is no event,

however important to us, which he has exempted from the general laws that govern the

universe, or which he has peculiarly reserved for his own immediate action and operation.

The revolution of states and empires depends upon the smallest caprice or passion of single

men; and the lives of men are shortened or extended by the smallest accident of air or dies,

sunshine or tempest. Nature still continues her progress and operation; and if general laws

be ever broke by particular volitions of the Deity, 'tis after a manner which entirely escapes

human observation. As on the one hand, the elements and other inanimate parts of the

creation carry on their action without regard to the particular interest and situation of men;

so men are entrusted to their own judgment and discretion in the various shocks of matter,

and may employ every faculty with which they are endowed, in order to provide for their

ease, happiness, or {9} preservation. What is the meaning then of that principle, that a man

who tired of life, and hunted by pain and misery, bravely overcomes all the natural terrors

of death, and makes his escape from this cruel scene: that such a man I say, has incurred the

indignation of his Creator by encroaching on the office of divine providence, and disturbing

the order of the universe? Shall we assert that the Almighty has reserved to himself in any

peculiar manner the disposal of the lives of men, and has not submitted that event, in

common with others, to the general laws by which the universe is governed? This is plainly

false; the lives of men depend upon the same laws as the lives of all other animals; and these

are subjected to the general laws of matter and motion. The fall of a tower, or the infusion of

a poison, will destroy a man equally with the meanest creature; an inundation sweeps away

every thing without distinction that comes within the reach of its fury. Since therefore the

lives of men {10} are for ever dependant on the general laws of matter and motion, is a man's

disposing of his life criminal, because in every case it is criminal to encroach upon these

laws, or disturb their operation? But this seems absurd; all animals are entrusted to their

own prudence and skill for their conduct in the world, and have full authority as far as their

power extends, to alter all the operations of nature. Without the excercise of this authority

they could not subsist a moment; every action, every motion of a man, innovates on the

order of some parts of matter, and diverts from their ordinary course the general laws of

motion. Putting together, therefore, these conclusion, we find that human life depends upon

the general laws of matter and motion, and that it is no encroachment on the office of

providence to disturb or alter these general laws: Has not every one, of consequence, the free

disposal of his own life? And may he not lawfully employ that power with which nature has

endowed him? In order {11} to destroy the evidence of this conclusion, we must shew a

reason why this particular case is excepted; is it because human life is of such great

importance, that 'tis a presumption for human prudence to dispose of it? But the life of a

man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of an oyster. And were it of ever so

great importance, the order of human nature has actually submitted it to human prudence,

and reduced us to a necessity, in every incident, of determining concerning it. -- Were the

disposal of human life so much reserve d as the peculiar province of the Almighty, that it

were an encroachment on his right, for men to dispose of their own lives; it would be equally

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hume - essays on suicide and the immortality of the soul.pdf

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