In 1741, Hume published his Essays, Moral and Political, making a lasting impact on political, economic and aesthetic theory. This collection gathers together over seventy important early responses to Hume's moral theory and Essays, including articles by Adam Smith, James Beattie, Jeremy Bentham, Joseph Priestley, Thomas Malthus and Thomas Reid.

This work is the second in the 10-volume series "Early Responses to Hume", which is an edited and annotated collection of eighteenth-and nineteenth-century critical reactions to Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711-1776) . Both a philosopher and historian, he was infamous in his day for his skeptical views on human nature, knowledge, metaphysics, and religion.

In 1741, Hume published his Essays, Moral and Political, making a lasting impact on political, economic and aesthetic theory. This collection gathers together over seventy important early responses to Hume's moral theory and Essays, including articles by Adam Smith, James Beattie, Jeremy Bentham, Joseph Priestley, Thomas Malthus and Thomas Reid.