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A Treatise of Human Nature Quotes by David Hume: Context & Meanings

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Reason is, and ought only to be, the slave of the passions,

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“Reason is, and ought only to be, the slave of the passions,”

David Hume

Meaning & context

Hume argues that reasoning can inform means and consequences but does not by itself supply the motivating ends that move a person to act.

Source details

A Treatise of Human Nature, Book II, Part III, Section III, “Of the Influencing Motives of the Will,” Project Gutenberg #4705. The frozen catalog retains the opening clause “Reason is, and ought only to be, the slave of the passions,” from a longer sentence. It remains Hume’s historical philosophical thesis rather than contemporary empirical psychology.

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