David Hume's Argument For The Existence Of God
David Hume was a Scottish philosopher who lived in the mid to late 1700’s. He wrote on a variety of topics, metaphysics, aesthetics, ethics, the self, and more. However, some of his most intriguing and significant work was done on the philosophy of religion. Though he was often very definitive and straight forward in his works, he never made a truly positive statement regarding his religious beliefs. Much evidence exists suggesting that he was an atheist, however he often seems to waver and frequently hints at a belief in the divine, despite his skepticism. In his Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, for example, he writes: “Our most holy religion” (qtd. Cahn 885); and, “divine existence (which I never questioned)” (qtd. Cahn 887). Though
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However, as Nathan Sasser points out in his essay Hume and the Implanted Knowledge of God, Hume “[would] not take up the [] question, concerning the origin of religious belief in reason – that is, in arguments for the existence or attributes of God” (Sasser 24). Hume refused to make any claim, outright, on the existence of God. However, his arguments regarding the origins of religion which do imply his denial of the divine. For example, he explains in depth the development of modern, monotheistic religion as an evolution of polytheism, which was itself a creation of human beings. He claims that polytheism developed due to a human tendency called the “Propensity to Project”, which Sasser explains as the inclination of humans, “to ascribe human thoughts and passions to the unknown causes of feared or hoped-for events” (Sasser 28). In other words, humans want to explain the world around them and when they encounter something they don’t understand, they assign it a cause and ascribe that cause human traits. For example, in ancient times, if there was a bad harvest, the interpretation was that the sun—who was responsible for life and growth and therefore the harvest—was mad at them. The sun was then deified and assigned human characteristics like the ability to make decisions cast judgements—the sun had feelings and moods and was directly responsible for events on earth. The same process then occurred with the moon and the ocean and the rain, etc. and led to polytheism as deities were further augmented and given more human attributes. Hume then claims that polytheism spawned monotheism after certain sects attributed their favored deity with more and more augmented humanistic quality until they reached infinity—eternal life—and the modern concept of God was born. By tracing the roots of religion and rationalizing the belief in
However, as Nathan Sasser points out in his essay Hume and the Implanted Knowledge of God, Hume “[would] not take up the [] question, concerning the origin of religious belief in reason – that is, in arguments for the existence or attributes of God” (Sasser 24). Hume refused to make any claim, outright, on the existence of God. However, his arguments regarding the origins of religion which do imply his denial of the divine. For example, he explains in depth the development of modern, monotheistic religion as an evolution of polytheism, which was itself a creation of human beings. He claims that polytheism developed due to a human tendency called the “Propensity to Project”, which Sasser explains as the inclination of humans, “to ascribe human thoughts and passions to the unknown causes of feared or hoped-for events” (Sasser 28). In other words, humans want to explain the world around them and when they encounter something they don’t understand, they assign it a cause and ascribe that cause human traits. For example, in ancient times, if there was a bad harvest, the interpretation was that the sun—who was responsible for life and growth and therefore the harvest—was mad at them. The sun was then deified and assigned human characteristics like the ability to make decisions cast judgements—the sun had feelings and moods and was directly responsible for events on earth. The same process then occurred with the moon and the ocean and the rain, etc. and led to polytheism as deities were further augmented and given more human attributes. Hume then claims that polytheism spawned monotheism after certain sects attributed their favored deity with more and more augmented humanistic quality until they reached infinity—eternal life—and the modern concept of God was born. By tracing the roots of religion and rationalizing the belief in