A Humean Theory of Choice Of which Rationality May Be One Consequence

Although David Hume’s place within the history of economic thought remains undisputable, his importance regarding the birth of what was to become the theory of choice has seldom been emphasized. Concerning recent decades, J.A. Schumpeter bears some responsibility in this situation: “[Hume’s] economics”, he said, “has nothing whatever to do with either his psychology or his philosophy” (Schumpeter 1954: 474n.). However, for the modern reader who considers economic theory of choice as a special case of a more general theory of action, David Hume’s discussion of the determinants of action in the Treatise of Human Nature (1739-1740), in the two Enquiries, concerning respectively Human Understanding (1748) and the Principles of Morals (1751), as well as in the Dissertation on the Passions (1757), deserves a more careful attention.