"The Whole is a Riddle, an Enigma, and Inexplicable Mystery": David Hume's Philosophy of Religion (AP2141C)

Content

The philosophy of religion of David Hume (1711–1776) is a major, though often undisclosed, part of the intellectual heritage of secularist thought in English-speaking countries. His psychological theory of religious belief and his sceptical critique of the traditional arguments for the existence of God present some of the most profound and classic challenges to Christian belief. In particular his psychological account of the origin and nature of religious belief as propensity of projection of entities (e.g., God/s) has been influential in the field of philosophy of religion. This unit explores his major work on the origin of religious belief, The Natural History of Religion, and his major criticism of the arguments for the existence of God, found in The Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. The unit will examine these, plus other lesser texts (e.g., On Miracles, On Superstition and Enthusiasm, and A Treatise of Human Nature) in order to analyse the different strands of Hume’s philosophy of religion, evaluating its coherence, presuppositions, strengths, and weaknesses.

Learning outcomes

Unit sequence

Prerequisite: One unit of philosophy.

Pedagogy

Seminars

Indicative Bibliography

• Beauchamp, Tom L., ed. A Dissertation on the Passions: The Natural History of Religion: A Critical Edition. Oxford: Clarendon; 2007.
• Buckle, Stephen. Hume's Enlightenment Tract: The Unity and Purpose of An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. Oxford: Clarendon, 2001.
• Coventry, Angela Michelle, and Kenneth R. Merrill. Historical Dictionary of Hume's Philosophy. 2nd ed. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2019.
• Earman, John. Hume's Abject Failure: The Argument Against Miracles. Oxford: Clarendon, 2000.
• Fogelin, Robert J. Hume's Skepticism in the Treatise of Human Nature. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2019.
• Fosl, Peter S. Hume's Scepticism: Pyrrhonian and Academic. Edinburgh Studies in Scottish Philosophy. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2019.
• Herdt, Jennifer A. Religion and Faction in Hume's Moral Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
• Hume, David. David Hume on Morals, Politics, and Society. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018.
• Harris, James A. Hume: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021.
• Pyle, Andrew. Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion: Reader's Guide. London: Continuum, 2006.

Assessment