David Hume's Science of Politics

The paper presents an interpretation that systematizes Hume's understanding of the principles of the science of politics. On the one hand, it is argued that the science of politics is a science about political forms of organization (for instance, monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy) founded upon axioms whose truth is eternal and unchangeable and independent of contextual factors - such as, for instance, culture, morals and education. On the other hand, the science of politics is also a science about the actions of human beings in society (for instance, the actions of a body of individuals that resists the tyranny of a governor) founded upon general maxims or principles whose truth is contingent and changeable and dependent of contextual factors.