Links to:

David Hume Tercentenary Fellowship
The Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH) at The University of Edinburgh

IASH Homepage

IASH Enlightenment Research Theme

IASH Fellowship Schemes

TO DONATE to the Fellowship click on the appropriate link below:

Donors from UKand all other countries except Canada and US

Canadian Donors

US Donors
(if you are making a donation in the USA, please email iash@ed.ac.uk to let us know)

Proposal to create a David Hume Tercentenary Fellowship

To coincide with the tercentenary of the birth of David Hume in 2011 we are seeking to establish an annual David Hume Fellowship at IASH. (See About David Hume below) The Fellowship seeks to be one of a prestigious nature, to attract outstanding scholars in an aspect of the expanding field of Hume studies. Applications will be competitive, and one scholar will be selected annually to study at IASH as the David Hume Tercentenary Fellow. The Fellow's work will be concentrated on the pursuit of Hume studies or a related topic in Scottish Enlightenment.

A main objective of this Fellowship will be to involve the work of the Tercentenary Fellow with the academic community at IASH, in Edinburgh, and further to the Scottish philosophical and historical community as a whole. To facilitate this the Institute will organise and facilitate a series of events to make the most of the Fellow as a resource. These will include, for example, formal lectures open to the public, invited guest seminars, informal work in progress sessions and opportunities to visit other Scottish institutions. Having a notable Hume scholar in residence at IASH will provide a unique opportunity for collaboration with peer institutions throughout Scotland.

Rationale

David Hume lived and produced much of his important philosophical and historical work in Edinburgh. He and his associates were at the heart of the intellectual, literary and cultural events that are now known as the Scottish Enlightenment. The David Hume Tercentenary Fellowship will once again make The University of Edinburgh a centre for Hume Studies.

The Institute has a long standing importance as a centre for Scottish Enlightenment and a long history of research Fellows who come to IASH and the University to work on Scottish Enlightenment projects. Both will be enhanced by the creation of this Fellowship. In conjunction with the Tercentenary and the establishment of this Fellowship, IASH is in the process of putting together a programme in the 'Enlightenment' research strand specifically focused on the work of Hume. The Hume Fellow will greatly enrich this already thriving area of work within the Institute.

The Tercentenary of Hume's birth combined with the occasion of IASH hosting the International Hume Society's Conference in 2011 (already agreed with the Society) will provide the perfect stage for the establishment of this Fellowship, and it is hoped to be able to announce the Fellowship at that conference.

Funding Proposition

Our aim is to provide sufficient capital to enable The University of Edinburgh to fund The David Hume Tercentenary Fellowship scheme in perpetuity. The University has a long and successful tradition of managing Fellowship endowments - some of which are centuries old - and using such funds to strategically build key academic disciplines and research positions. Endowments also underpin the University's aim to broaden its funding base and allow it to provide it with greater independence to shape its strategic development.

The endowment would be restricted to funding stipends for the David Hume Tercentenary Fellowship. The capital required to establish a permanent endowment is £850,000. This would provide an average grant of £25,000 to attract a notable Hume Scholar. IASH is eager to provide a stipend that will offset the costs of the visiting Fellows who may be taking unpaid sabbatical from a home institution. The endowment will also provide funds to facilitate the various activities necessary to complement the work of the Fellow as noted above.

To make a donation to the Fund, please click on one of the links in the left hand column.

For further information or discussion about supporting The David Hume Tercentenary Fellowship, please contact:
Professor Susan Manning
Director, Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities
The University of Edinburgh
Tel: +44 (0)131 650 4671
Fax: +44 (0)131 668 2252
E-mail: iash@ed.ac.uk

About David Hume
David Hume was born on 22 April 1711. His father died when he was two years old, and he was brought up by his mother, who came from a family of lawyers. At the age of 12 he was offered a place at The University of Edinburgh (students began their studies far earlier in the 1700's) and when he left a few years later, he was encouraged to pursue a career in law.

Independent-minded and highly intelligent, Hume decided instead to set about planning his own education, realising that his strengths lay in more philosophical directions; in his own words, he had "an insurmountable aversion to everything but the pursuits of philosophy and general learning". Unfortunately, this insurmountable aversion pushed him too hard, and he suffered a nervous breakdown in 1729, and it took some years for him to recover.

Over the following decades one focus of Hume's work was formulating arguments against superstition. An atheist and unmitigated sceptic, his ideas were not popular with religious leaders; he argued, for example, that religion is not the key to understanding the universe, instead that religion itself is a reflection of human psychology.

In time, Hume's ideas established him as one of the great philosophers of the Scottish Enlightenment. The publication for which he is best known was his first major work, 'A Treatise of Human Nature', which he produced between 1739 and 1740. The 'Treatise' did not go down well with readers at the time (Hume commented that it "fell dead-born from the press"), but it has since been argued to be one of the most important books in the history of philosophy.

Although Hume wrote in the 18th century, his works remain uncommonly relevant with respect to the philosophical disputes of today when compared to those of his contemporaries. Today Hume's work is studied by scholars from all over the world and they gather annually at the International Hume Conference organized by the Hume Society. The Hume Society exists to stimulate scholarship on all aspects of Hume's thoughts and writings. The Annual Conference for the Hume Society will be held in Edinburgh in 2011 and will be hosted by IASH. This is a year of particular significance as 2011 is the tercentenary of David Hume's birth.

IASH Homepage / IASH Enlightenment Research Theme / IASH Fellowship Schemes