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David Hume Essay, Research Paper

Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion ranks among the greatest writings in the history of Western philosophy. The work addresses

the sensitive issue of the knowledge we have of God through reason alone, and, in the process, Hume presents arguments which undermine the

classic proofs for God’s existence. The arguments in the Dialogues assume an important 18th century distinction between natural religion and

revealed religion. Natural religion involves knowledge of God drawn from nature, solely by the use of reasoning. Often this involves drawing

conclusions about the natural design we see in the universe. Revealed religion, on the other hand, involves religious knowledge derived from

revelation, specifically divinely inspired texts such as the Bible. From his earliest writings, Hume attacked both of these alleged avenues of religious

truth. In the Treatise of Human Nature (1739-40), published when he was 27, Hume attacks natural religion arguing that our ideas reach no farther

than our experience; since we have no experience of divine attributes and operations, then we can have no conception of divine attributes. In his

infamous essay on miracles from An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748), Hume goes a step further and attacks revealed religion.

He argues that it is never reasonable to believe in violations of natural laws, such as reports of miracles and prophecies, which in turn are the

foundations of revealed religion. Given the rational bankruptcy of both natural and revealed religion, what remains, for Hume, is what he calls vulgar

religion. Vulgar religion is the religious belief of the masses, and we understand this by uncovering the true psychological causes of these beliefs,

such as emotions and instincts. He examines vulgar religion in his Natural History of Religion (1757), a work he composed simultaneously with the

Dialogues. The Dialogues, though, deals exclusively with the subject of natural religion and in this work Hume offers his most systematic critique of

the subject.

THE CHARACTERS OF THE DIALOGUES. Hume’s decision to compose this work in dialog form is significant. During the 18th century,

Great Britain was among the most free countries in Europe, and political authorities allowed a great amount of unobstructed expression. However,

religious leaders believed that rational proofs for God’s existence were almost as integral to Christianity as the Bible itself. Accordingly, officials

viewed direct attacks on natural theology as an abuse of free expression. To avoid political confrontation, Hume adopted the common literary

technique of presenting controversial arguments in dialog form. There are three principal characters in Hume’s Dialogues. On the conservative side

of the issue, a character named Cleanthes offers a posteriori arguments for God’s existence, particularly the design argument:

(a) Machines are produced by intelligent design

(b) Universe resembles a machine

(c) Therefore, the universe was produced by intelligent design

The design argument rests on an analogy between the design we recognize in human-created artifacts and similar design we recognize in the

universe. This similarity of design entitles us to conclude that the universe was likewise created by intelligent design. Most of the Dialogues focuses

on aspects of the design argument. Next, a character named Demea prefers a priori arguments for God’s existence, particularly Leibniz’s

cosmological argument:

(a) The world contains an infinite sequence of contingent facts;

(b) An explanation is needed as to the origin of this whole infinite series, which goes beyond an explanation of each member in the series;

(c) The explanation of this whole series cannot reside in the series itself, since the very fact of its existence would still need an

explanation (principle of sufficient reason)

(d) Therefore, there is a necessary substance which produced this infinite series, and which is the complete explanation of its own

existence as well.

Earlier defenders of cosmological-type arguments, such as Aquinas, argued that an infinite series of causes of the universe is impossible. Thus, a

first divine cause is required to start this series of individual causes. However, Demea (and Leibniz) assume that an infinite series of causes of the

universe is possible. Even so, Demea argues, we still need an explanation of the entire collection of finite causes, which must be found outside of the

infinite collection of individual causes.

Finally, a character named Philo is a skeptic who argues against both a posteriori and a priori proofs. Philo offers a stream of criticisms against

the design argument, many of which are now standard in discussions of the issue. For Philo, the design argument is based on a faulty analogy: we

don’t know whether the order in nature was the result of design since, unlike our experience with the creation of machines, we did not witness the

formation of the world. The vastness of the universe also weakens any comparison with a human artifacts: although the universe is orderly here, it

may be chaotic elsewhere. Similarly, if intelligent design is exhibited only in a small fraction of the universe, then we can not say it is the productive

force of the whole universe. Philo also contends that natural design may be accounted for by nature alone, insofar as matter contains within itself a

principle of order. And even if the design of the universe is of divine origin, we are not justified in concluding that this divine cause is a single, all

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