David Hume and the myth of the 'Warburtonian School'

• Published in: History of European ideas Vol. 49; no. 2; pp. 200 - 223
• Main Author: Mills, R. J. W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Routledge 17-02-2023; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: 19th century; authorial persona; British Enlightenment; David Hume; Fiction; Hume, David (1711-1776); Warburtonian School; William Warburton
• ISSN: 0191-6599; 1873-541X
• DOI: 10.1080/01916599.2020.1809004

David Hume (1711-1776) believed a 'confederacy of authors', brought together by the notoriously pugnacious William Warburton (1698-1779), were his most consistent and scurrilous critics. Warburton and his 'School' were Hume's bêtes noires and embodied so much of what he fought against. Only there is reason to believe that the 'Warburtonian School' was more a useful fiction than a historical reality. The following deep dive into Humeana and the 'stuff of anecdote' digs up substantial conclusions about Hume's philosophical project and context. Any glorifying picture of Hume admirably ignoring sustained 'Warburtonian' name-calling is not an accurate description of the early reception of his writings. Hume did respond - at least, occasionally, privately and publicly. Moreover, the 'Warburtonian School' does not seem to exist - at least, it did not exist if it is taken to refer to a coherent group of writers, numbering more than two, concerned with attacking Hume. The response to Hume of 'Warburtonians' who can be identified was varied, disparate, and often positive. Warburton even came to like Hume's historical writings. Hume's claim that such a School existed may have led to the post hoc creation of the School in the minds of late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century commentators.