David Hume

I am considered by some to be the most important philosopher to write in English, which like most claims of this nature is debatable. I am the third and most radical of the British Empiricists. And even though I am categorized as a British Empiricist I influenced and was influenced by the so-called Continental Tradition. My view on causality was greatly derived from the French Cartesian Nicholas Malebranche. I claim that causality is a relation between ideas. My skeptical approach to causalty and metaphysics greatly influenced the great philospher Immanuel Kant, who I awoken from his "dogmatic slumber." I was inspired by the science of Newton to attempt a "Science of Man". In my failure to do so I came to the conclusion that a grand theory of everything is impossible and claims of such nature should be doubted. One area of my work that I did not cast doubt upon was my claims on morality. My "Is" "Ought" distinction is an important product of the modern philosopical era. I claim that reason tells us how things are but morality tells us how things ought to be. My claim is that morality is not a matter of reason.