Comparing Hume's Omnipotence And Benevolence Of God
Hume’s arguments were actually responding to the argument as outlined by thinkers such as Plato, Cicero and Aquinas. Hume analyses four of the main premises laid out in a standard Teleological argument and deconstructs them in order to find fault within the logic. The first one that I shall present is Hume’s argument to disparage the claim that one can find only order and good design within the universe. Hume throws the omnipotence and benevolence of God into question when he highlights the fact that there is much suffering and pain and evidence of bad design in the world around us. It is easy to suggest that the world is not harmonious within the workings and regulations of itself and this is shown by the vast amount of suffering, disease,
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If the world is truly a product of bad design, then there is a situation where either there is no creator behind it, or the creator does not fit the parameters we give it in the Judaeo-Christian religion. This is an idea explored later on in Hume’s writings. A major feature in Design arguments both recent and historical is the comparison that one makes between the materialistic and mechanical items we have here on earth that have been designed and how that links to the formation of the universe. However Hume argued that the grounds for an analogy such as this is far too weak. The natural world the plethora of items that inhabit it are far too dissimilar from the human artefacts from which we are trying to evoke a link. To put forward the most noticeable, and perhaps most important differences, the natural objects in the universe are living organisms that have the ability to regulate and change themselves freely, whereas the manmade objects on earth are inanimate creations that had to be made by an outside force. However Hume did, if only in jest, suggests a better and more plausible comparison one could draw
If the world is truly a product of bad design, then there is a situation where either there is no creator behind it, or the creator does not fit the parameters we give it in the Judaeo-Christian religion. This is an idea explored later on in Hume’s writings. A major feature in Design arguments both recent and historical is the comparison that one makes between the materialistic and mechanical items we have here on earth that have been designed and how that links to the formation of the universe. However Hume argued that the grounds for an analogy such as this is far too weak. The natural world the plethora of items that inhabit it are far too dissimilar from the human artefacts from which we are trying to evoke a link. To put forward the most noticeable, and perhaps most important differences, the natural objects in the universe are living organisms that have the ability to regulate and change themselves freely, whereas the manmade objects on earth are inanimate creations that had to be made by an outside force. However Hume did, if only in jest, suggests a better and more plausible comparison one could draw