David Hume: Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion

by Hume, David

• ISBN13: 9781451506839
• ISBN10: 145150683X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-02-20
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Pub
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Summary

David Hume made a reputation by writing on reason and its limits. The main thrust of "Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion" is to question whether theological arguments for God that assign Him positive attributes (omniscient, omnipotent, omni-benevolent, etc.) go beyond reason's limits in assigning these attributes. We watch Cleanthes (believer in theological arguments), Demea (believer more on faith) and Philo (disbeliever in theology's efficacy) hash out whether reason and experience alone give us reason to say anything whatever about God. In "Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion," David Hume explores all of the major arguments for God's existence including the posteriori argument, the priori argument, and the argument from evil. The main thrust of "Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion" is that Philo, far from challenging whether God exists, challenges theologies capacity to assign ANY characteristics to God by reason and experience alone. David Hume does a good job not only in outlaying arguments as to why reason is not capable of knowing a thing about God, but also in making believable dialogues (compared to Plato, whose characters are all made to be one-dimensional foils for "Socrates.") As in so many other areas, David Hume was a pioneer in the realm of the philosophy of God. "Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion" furnishes strong proof of that!