David Hume on Tragedy

Abstract

What can be said of Hume? I would present the following characterization: he is not a Cartesian; nor is he an advocate of the pleasure of sympathy; nor does he put much faith in the moral end of tragedy. He is, in short, rather a strange figure in mid-eighteenth century aesthetics. Admiring Newton, supporting Addisonian taste, distrusting "enthusiasm" in any form, he presents a Newtonian exposition of the very conservative position that imitation and artistry alone provide the pleasure in tragedy.