Tom Beauchamp presents the definitive scholarly edition of two famous works by David Hume, both originally published in 1757. In A Dissertation on the Passions Hume sets out his original view of the nature and central role of passion and emotion. The Natural History of Religion is a landmark work in the study of religion as a natural phenomenon.

Offers a reconstruction of Hume's social theory and examines his moral philosophy, account of social power, and system of ethics.

In 1756 a volume of Hume's essays entitled Five Dissertations was printed and ready for distribution. The essays included "The Natural History of Religion", "Of the Passions", "Of Tragedy", "Of Suicide", and "Of the Immortality of the Soul". The latter two essays made direct attacks on common religious doctrines by defending a person's moral right to commit suicide and by criticizing the idea of life after death. Early copies were passed around, and someone of influence threatened to prosecute Hume's publisher if the book was distributed as is. The printed copies of Five Dissertations were then physically altered, with a new essay "Of the Standard of Taste" inserted in place of the two removed essays. Hume also took this opportunity to alter two particularly offending paragraphs in the Natural History. The essays were then bound with the new title Four Dissertations and distributed in January, 1757. The essays in Four stand together as a unified whole, showcasing his psychology of the passions and demonstrating its application to both religion and aesthetics. This edition also includes Hume's extended Dedication, a passionate endorsement of intellectual and artistic freedom, which has been out of print since the original publication in 1757. The essays on suicide and the immortality of the soul, long separated from the other essays, are here finally put back, as intended by Hume. "On the Immortality of the Soul" briskly dismisses metaphysical, moral, and physical arguments, and refers us instead to a revelation that Hume himself clearly did not believe in. "On Suicide" vigorously rebuts the theologians' claim that self-destruction is a crime, arguing instead that under certaincircumstances, suicide might be not permissible but morally required. Included are "Two Letters on Suicide" from Rousseau's Eloisa.

In 1688, Charles Le Brun, a French academician, delivered a lecture on expression that was so popular it was published in sixty-three separate editions and influenced all discussion of the subject throughout Europe for over a century. This book reconstructs and translates the text of the lecture (badly garbled in all previous versions), explores the context in which it was conceived, delivered, received, and finally rejected, and reproduces the images that accompanied the lecture.

In Philosophies of Gratitude, Ashraf H. A. Rushdy explores gratitude as a philosophical concept. The first half of the book traces its significance in fundamental Western moral philosophy and notions of ethics, specifically examining key historical moments and figures in classical antiquity, the early modern era, and the Enlightenment. In the second half of the book, Rushdy focuses on contemporary meanings of gratitude as a sentiment, action, and disposition: how we feel grateful, act grateful, and cultivate grateful being. He identifies these three forms of gratitude to discern various roles our emotions play in our ethical responses to the world around us. Rushdy then discusses how ingratitude, instead of indicating a moral failure, can also act as an important principle and ethical stand against injustice. Rushdy asserts that if we practice gratitude as a moral recognition of the other, then that gratitude varies alongside the different kinds of benefactors who receive it, ranging from the person who provides an expected service or gift, to the divine or natural sources whom we may credit with our very existence. By arguing for the necessity of analyzing gratitude as a philosophical concept, Rushdy reminds us of our capacity and appreciation for gratitude simply as an acknowledgment and acceptance of our humble dependency on and connectedness with our families, friends, communities, environments, and universe.