David Hume - an 18th Century Guy Who Wrote a Lot that is Relevant Today

Hume's major philosophical works are A Treatise of Human Natureand Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. Both were written during the mid 1700's. As opposed to the Transcendentalism of Kant or the metaphysical writings of Berkeley, Hume is classified as an empiricist, but classifications vary widely because each writer was prolific.

Hume was also a historian: He wrote History of England, which is still read today.

Politics and Morality are other areas to which Hume contributed. He believed that government is founded on opinion. He wrote:

"NOTHING appears more surprizing to those, who consider human affairs with a philosophical eye, than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few; and the implicit submission, with which men resign their own sentiments and passions to those of their rulers. When we enquire by what means this wonder is effected, we shall find, that, as FORCE is always on the side of the governed, the governors have nothing to support them but opinion. It is therefore, on opinion only that government is founded; and this maxim extends to the most despotic and most military governments, as well as to the most free and most popular."

- Of the First Principles of Government. Essays, Moral and Political

An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals is another of Hume's works in the area of politics and morals.

It is common to see attempts to control opinion in a democracy. The web, the print media, radio and television are examples of efforts to control opinion. In other types of despotic governments, the brute army adage tends to be the rule: "When I need an opinion from you I'll give you one."

The print press was most influential in Revolutionary America. In the Twentieth Century, news evolved through radio broadcasts to television broadcasts to cable television to the web. The web is currently threatening to regress back to cable TV. Elites tend to attempt to control public opinion. That effort can be seen on the web: Some rating systems rely on questionable calculations like "Percentage of Global Internet Users", a concept that bounces like rubber and is reminiscent of the TV rating systems, shaky estimates of numbers that can't be proven.

Will communication and the Internet remain free? Hopefully they will. It is futile to attempt to control communication because it is a natural right. To the extent that the Internet does not remain free, free expression will simply move to other avenues.