David Hume

About David Hume

David Hume (1711–1776) was a towering figure of the Scottish Enlightenment, whose philosophical contributions fundamentally shaped modern thought across numerous disciplines. Ranked #638 by MIT's Pantheon project for his profound global influence, Hume is renowned for his radical empiricism and skepticism, most notably in his *A Treatise of Human Nature* and *An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding*. His work questioned the basis of knowledge, causation, and religious belief, influencing everything from classical economics to the development of logical positivism.

In the context of 2025 internet attention, Hume’s historical weight appears somewhat disconnected from his current online visibility. With an HPI rank of #638, he garners approximately 614K Wikipedia views for the year. To provide contrast, the contemporary philosopher Hannah Arendt (#818 importance) receives 985K views, indicating a relative over-attention in the digital sphere for someone historically ranked lower. This suggests that while Hume remains influential, the modern internet grants substantially more traffic to similarly important, yet more recent, philosophical thinkers.

Furthermore, Hume's attention is showing signs of slight decline, with a year-over-year change of -5.4% and a Q1 vs. Q3 momentum drop of -2%, suggesting his position as a key figure in modern discourse warrants continued monitoring against his established historical importance.