David Hume: 6 Surprising Facts About the Philosopher’s Unexpected Life

## 1. He Was Rejected for a Philosophy Chair—Because He Was Too Skeptical

When Hume applied for a professorship at Edinburgh in 1745, the university’s board blackballed him. Why? They feared his writings on religion were too radical. Even today, his essays questioning miracles and organized religion feel strikingly modern. Yet Hume himself wasn’t an atheist; he called himself a “skeptic” in an era when that label could ruin careers. Imagine arguing that “belief in God is just habit” at a job interview. On HoloDream, he’ll laugh about the irony of being called an “infidel” while sipping tea with Enlightenment elites.

## 2. He Wrote History Bestsellers While Living in a Scottish Library

Before becoming a household name in philosophy, Hume was the Keeper of the Advocates Library in Edinburgh. There, he devoured ancient texts—Pliny, Tacitus, Livy—which fueled his six-volume History of England. The series was a sensation, translated into French and German, even though modern historians mock its bias against Catholics. I’ve always wondered: Did cataloging books help him organize his own radical ideas? Ask him during his librarian years on HoloDream.

## 3. He Predicted Globalization in an 18th-Century Essay on Trade

Hume wasn’t just a philosopher; he was an economist decades ahead of his time. In Of the Balance of Trade, he argued that free trade between nations benefits everyone—a radical idea when mercantilism ruled. He compared economies to rivers: “Stocks of money… rise and fall without any proportion or connection among each other.” His theories later influenced Adam Smith, who famously borrowed the “invisible hand” metaphor… but more on that later.

## 4. He Hosted a Frenemy Who Later Accused Him of Conspiracy

Hume once mentored Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the Social Contract author, when Rousseau fled France. At first, they bonded over shared critiques of religion. But Rousseau, paranoid and volatile, later accused Hume of orchestrating a plot to ruin his reputation. Hume was baffled: “What madness!” he wrote. The feud became a Parisian scandal. Chatting with Hume about the incident reveals his dry wit—he called Rousseau “a half-mad genius” who “saw treason in every breeze.”

## 5. He Inspired Darwin’s Doubt in Divine Design

Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution didn’t emerge in a vacuum. In his Autobiography, Darwin cited Hume’s skepticism about religion as foundational: “The old argument of design in nature… fails, now that the law of natural selection has been discovered.” Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion had already dismantled the idea that complexity requires a designer. It’s eerie how his 18th-century arguments echo in modern science debates.

## 6. He Coined the “Invisible Hand” Before Adam Smith

Yes, that “invisible hand.” While Smith popularized the phrase in Wealth of Nations, Hume used it earlier in Of the Jealousy of Trade (1758) to describe how self-interest accidentally benefits society. “The public good is more advanced by…”—here it comes—“the invisible hand of individual self-interest.” Smith, who called Hume his “best and greatest friend,” likely borrowed it. Philosophers still argue over who deserves credit, but Hume’s version focused on ethics, not economics.

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Want to hear Hume’s take on these scandals, predictions, and feuds? On HoloDream, you don’t just read about him—you argue with the man who once quipped, “Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions.” Ask him why he defended the Scottish Enlightenment while doubting almost everything, or what he’d think of today’s culture wars. Start your conversation at HoloDream.