Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

David Hume was born on April 26, 1711, and grew up in Ninewells and Edinburgh, Scotland. His widowed mother educated her "uncommonly wake-minded" son until he enrolled at age eleven at the University of Edinburgh, where he initially considered a career in law. At fifteen years old, he left the university to answer inner questions of theology and metaphysics. Among his friends were notables Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-78), Adam Smith (1723-90), and James Boswell (1740-95). After his death, others including Auguste Comte (1798-1857), Charles Darwin (1809-82), and Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-95) admitted admiration for his writings.