hume
Hume "I was from the beginning scandalised, I must own, with this resemblance between the Deity and human creatures." --Philo David Hume wrote much about the subject of religion, much of it negative. In this paper we shall attempt to follow Hume's arguments against Deism as Someone knowable from the wake He allegedly makes as He passes. This kind of Deism he lays to rest. Then, digging deeper, we shall try our hand at a critique of his critique of religion, of resurrecting a natural belief in God. Finally, if there's anything Hume would like to say as a final rejoinder, we shall let him have his last word and call the matter closed. To allege the occurrence of order in creation, purpose in its constituent parts and in its constituted whole, regularity in the meter of its rhythm and syncopations, and mindful structure in the design and construction of Nature is by far the most widely used and generally accepted ground for launching from the world belief in an intelligent and om!nipotent designer god. One does not have to read for very long to find some modern intellectual involved in the analysis of some part of Nature come to the "Aha!" that there's a power at work imposing order, design, structure and purpose in creation. Mo
that belief in a particular providence or divine action must require one to assert. This he sets out first and in preliminary fashion in Section XI of the Enquiry and with more plethoric attention in the Dialogues. In both books he employs the dialogue form to embody his attacks. The argument of the former is mistitled. Fourteen of the seventeen pages have nothing to do with immortality or "particular providence." Hume's argument here is from the particular effect to the existence of a cause sufficient for its production. Causes are to be known from effects alone; to ascribe to it any superfluous qualities goes beyond the bounds of strict logical reasoning. The imagination must be philosophically bridled. When ten ounces are raised in a balance one can surely surmise a counterbalance exceeding ten ounces, but one can hardly offer any justification for the counterbalance to weigh 100 ounces. Transferred to philosophical theology, it is impossible to derive legitimately from a ! coherent empirical matters are processed to a divine cause. 2. A second objection centers in the critique of constant conjunction. Is one instance in itself of constant conjunction sufficient to know a cause from inspection to its effect? In the Treatise Hume has urged us to conceive of events occurring without any causes at all; anything may be the cause of anything. How do these implicate his Argument from Design? Are our observations one-on-one with our experiences? Is the constant conjunction of events, which Hume says must be experienced as cause and effect, the only legitimate permission we possess for inferring either from the presence of the other? Why can we not infer from the simple and unparalleled fact of the universe an equally simple and unparalleled Deity as Cause? 3. A final objection comes from science. Every scientific stride has come from its putting forth hypotheses which extend beyond the phenomena observed. A scientific theory that proceeded only upon ex! isting data would be worthless. It could not as an explanation guide experiments and research. Scientists must venture out beyond the already known and infer the unknown. And so do we. We look at our children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters and parents and infer heredity, or more specifically, genes. DNA is an unostentatious reality, inexperienced, but we see its effect. Can we not legitimately infer God as a way to account and even foretell phenomena of the universe? Hume replies: Ok, OK, so I was not as careful as I might have been in formulating my principle that on the other side of experience there is no door leading to conjecture or hypothesis. I have expressed myself badly in places, but I think I can salvage my cause with a more circumspect exposition. Mr. Swinburne, my respects. You have scored a good point. But your chessboard of an analogy fails because you are too ready to ascribe natural laws to a Deity, when they are pawns unequal to the task of checkmating the! en mind regarding uncertainty is to close it on this one thing certain: That the Cause (or Causes) of order in the universe bear no remote resemblance or analogy to humans, animals, plants or nature. What that is we can't know, for it is parasitic on data we shall never be able to interrogate. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ natural theology any relevancy in conclusions arrived at over and above what can be independently and directly supported by empirical study of the universe. Such innocuous-sounding, even camouflaged assertions by Hume were in actuality a D-Day invasion on the Normandy Beach of the Deists. The first salvo is a statement of the terms of reference: You then . . . have acknowledged that the chief or sole argument for a divine existence (which I have never questioned) is derived from the order of nature, where there appear such marks of intelligence and design that you think it extravagant to assign for its cause either chance or the blind
Some common words found in the essay are:
Argument Design, Beach Deists, Design Argument, Robinson Crusoe, XI Enquiry, God Cleanthes, Natural Laws, Design Arguments, III Cleanthes, Deity Cause, design argument, argument design, constant conjunction, nature god, natural theology, natural laws, course nature, simple unparalleled, effect cause, benevolence mercy, hume natural theology, section xi enquiry, balance theory theory, cleanthes nature god, constant conjunction events,
Approximate Word count = 4388
Approximate Pages = 18 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
