<![CDATA[
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink="#CC0000" alink="#CC0000"><center><hr width="350" size="1" align="center" noshade>A reexamination of Hume's views on religion<hr width="350" size="1" align="center" noshade><p><a href="https://cdcshoppingcart.uchicago.edu/Cart/ChicagoBook.aspx?ISBN=9780877226437&&PRESS=temple" target="_top">Buy this book!</a> | <a href="https://cdcshoppingcart.uchicago.edu/Cart/Cart.aspx?PRESS=temple" target="_top">View Cart</a> | <a href="https://cdcshoppingcart.uchicago.edu/Cart/Cart.aspx?PRESS=temple" target="_top">Check Out</a></p><p><img src="590_reg.gif" height=200 border=1 vspace=4></p></center><!--none//--><h1>Hume's "Inexplicable Mystery"</h1>
<H2>His Views on Religion</H2>
<h3>Keith E. Yandell</h3>
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<BR> 352 pp
</P><BLOCKQUOTE><I>"Yandell has put us all in his debt for the care with which he has examined the writings of one of the most influential critics of religion."</I>
<br>—<b><I>Journal of Theological Studies</I></b><I></I></BLOCKQUOTE>
<p>The eighteenth-century Scottish empiricist David Hume has been regarded as a notorious enemy of religion. Still, his discussion of religion is systematic, sophisticated, and sustained. Focusing mainly on two of Hume�s works, the relatively neglected <I>Natural History of Religion</I> and the more widely read <I>Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion</I>, Keith Yandell analyzes Hume�s treatment of a subject that he described as "a riddle, an enigma, an inexplicable mystery." In so doing, he explores the relationships between Hume�s philosophy of religion and his general philosophy.
<p>Hume�s "evidentialism," applied to religion, can be summed up by saying that it is unreasonable to accept a religious belief unless one has evidence for it. Since it is also Hume�s view that there is no evidence for any religious belief, he concludes that no one is ever reasonable in accepting a religious belief. Yandell examines the explanations that Hume gave for such acceptance in <I>Natural History of Religion</I>. Addressing the <I>Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion</I>, he compares Hume�s views to those of such authors as Herbert of Cherbury and Bishop Joseph Butler, traces changes in Hume�s theory of meaning, and discusses the ontological and cosmological arguments and Hume�s treatment of the problem of evil. Yandell then considers other lesser known writings by Hume that are relevant to his philosophy of religion.
<BR> <h2>Reviews</h2>
<p><I>"[Yandell] offers an interpretation of Hume's philosophy of religion and examines its foundations critically. The sweep of coverage and the author's control of his material are impressive. This is a readable and informative study which no one interested in Hume's views on religion can afford to neglect."</I>
<br>—<b>James King</b>, Northern Illinois University
<p><I>"[Yandell] has unearthed the underlying philosophical significance of [the </I>Natural History<I>]. That by itself is an important achievement and a valuable scholarly contribution. Yandell's discussion of the issues in Hume's better known writing is intrinsically important as well as constitution a significant deepening of our approach to issues in Hume's philosophy of religion. It is a tribute to Yandell's stature as a philosopher that he is able to return to ground which has been so frequently ploughed and still give us new insights and a more perceptive understanding of Hume's method and his results.... It is an original and illuminating reading of a number of major issues in Hume's philosophy."</I>
<br>—<b>Marvin Fox</b>, Brandeis University
<BR> <h2>Contents</h2><P>
<p>Preface
<br>Abbreviations
<br>Introduction
<p><b>Part I: The Natural History of Religion</b>
<p>1. The Content of the <I>Natural History</I>
<br><I>Hume's Theory of Religious Belief •
Hume's Apparent Approval of the Design Argument •
The Secondary Status of the Propensities to Religious Belief •
Hume on Religion and Morality •
Religion and Human Nature •
Part Twelve of the </I>Dialogues<I> •
Verbal Dispute in </I>Dialogue<I> Twelve •
Philo's Confession of Faith</I>
<p>2. The <I>Treatise</I> Repetition of the <I>Natural History</I> Pattern of Explanation
<br><I>The Skeptical Prologue •
Belief in an External World: Humean Constancy •
Belief in an Enduring Self •
Principles of Association as Propensities, Causality Included •
The </I>Treatise<I> Explanations and the </I>Natural History<I> Explanation •
Conflict Concerning the External World •
Conflict Concerning Enduring Numerically Identical Selves</I>
<p>3. Religious Belief as a Danger to Human Nature
<br><I>A Further Similarity •
Natural Beliefs •
Basic Propensities •
Religion and Human Nature Again •
Human Nature •
Hume and Calvin on Human Nature •
The Rights of Reason and the Rights of Religion</I>
<p>4. Hume's Account of Persons as Propensity Bearers
<br><I>Two Models of Human Nature •
The Appendix Summary •
The Soul or Person •
Meaning •
Do Simple Perceptions Endure? •
Substances •
Identity •
Time •
A Brief Look Backward •
An Example of the 'Real Connections Among Perceptions' View •
Self-Awareness •
Observability and Transparency •
Foundationalism •
Certainty and Personal Identity •
Transparency and Real Connections •
Why We Believe in Personal Identity •
Memory and Personal Identity •
Agency and Morality •
Summary of the 'Real Connection' Line of Reasoning •
Conclusion</I>
<p>5. Hume's Explanation of Religious Belief
<br><I>A Brief Review •
The Elements of Hume's Explanation •
A Critique of Hume's Strategy •
The Critique Assessed •
Religious Experience and Hume's Explanation •
Elements of an Argument from Religious Experience •
A Principle of Experiential Evidence •
Social Science Explanations and the Argument from Religious Experience</I>
<p><b>Part II: Hume's Discussion of Natural Theology</b>
<p>6. Hume's Evidentialism
<br><I>Hume and Radical Religious Evidentialism •
Bishop Butler on Probable Evidence</I>
<p>7. Hume's Theory of Meaning
<br><I>Incomprehensibility •
An Introduction to Ineffability •
Ineffability: Another Look •
Divine Incomprehensibility and Negative Theology •
Meaning, Verification, and the Designer Hypothesis •
Incomprehensibility Again</I>
<p>8. Design, Causality, and Purpose
<br><I>The Causal Principle and the Causal Maxim (</I>Dialogues<I>, Part Two) •
Theism and the </I>Dialogues<I> •
The Design Argument: Initial Formulation •
On Proportioning Degrees of Belief and Evidence •
Arguments from Experience •
Inductive Arguments and Lawlike Connections •
Inductive Argument and Argument by Analogy •
The Design Argument and Postulation of Theoretical Entities •
Relevant versus Irrelevant Properties •
The Fallacy of Composition •
Opposing Analogies •
Is the Universe a Thing? •
Being Designed and Having a Purpose</I>
<p>9. Inductive Arguments and Analogical Arguments
<br><I>Cleanthes' Attempt to Avoid Philo's Critique (</I>Dialogues<I>, Part Three) •
Inductions from Single Cases •
Review and Prospect •
A Two-Stage Design Argument •
Argument by Analogy to Properties of the Universe's Designer •
The Most Plausible Analogy or Model •
Miscellaneous Topics •
(A10) and Ultimate Explanations</I>
<p>10. Design Arguments and Multiple Models
<br><I>Ramifications of and Alternatives to the Designer Hypothesis (</I>Dialogues<I>, Part Four) •
More Ramifications of the Designer Hypothesis (</I>Dialogues<I>, Part Five) •
Alternatives to the Designer Hypothesis Again (</I>Dialogues<I>, Part Six) •
The Universe, Vegetables, and Animals (</I>Dialogues<I>, Part Seven) •
Various Models for Understanding Universal Order Again •
Alternative Models for Explaining Universal Order (</I>Dialogues<I>, Part Eight)</I>
<p>11. Other Theistic Arguments
<br><I>Demea's </I>a Priori<I> Arguments (</I>Dialogues<I>, Part Nine) •
The Notion of Necessary Existence •
The Universe and Necessity •
Explanation and Infinite Series •
Philonian Determinism</I>
<p>12. Evil, Happiness, and Goodness
<br><I>Religion and Fear (</I>Dialogues<I>, Part Ten) •
Hedonism •
The Equivocation Argument •
The Equivocation Argument Assessed •
Happier Possible Persons? •
Means and Ends •
The Argument of Epicurus •
The Argument of Epicurus Assessed •
Omnibenevolence and the Phenomena</I>
<p>13. Evil, Prediction, and Probability
<br><I>The Prediction Argument (</I>Dialogues<I>, Part Eleven) •
Is Evil </I>a Priori<I> Unlikely? •
The Aquinas Line •
The Leibniz Line •
Determinism and Responsibility •
Disanalogies between God and Human Agents •
Direct and Indirect Causation •
The Consistency Question •
Philo's Four Causes •
Philo's Four Circumstances •
The Four Circumstances Argument •
Evil and Probability</I>
<p><b>Part III: Further Humeana</b>
<p>14. Superstition, Enthusiasm, Suicide, and Immortality
<br><I>Of Superstition and Enthusiasm •
On Suicide •
Immortality •
Metaphysical Arguments •
Moral Arguments •
Physical Arguments •
Ethical Arguments •
The Pre-</I>Dialogues<I> Dialogue</I>
<p>15. Miracles
<br><I>What Is a Miracle? •
Miracles and "Extraordinary" Events •
Miracles and the Stormy History of Science •
Miracles and Epistemology •
Hume's Argument Appraised •
Hume's Subsidiary Arguments •
Some Comments about the Subsidiary Arguments •
Hume's Main Position on Miracles •
Conclusion</I>
<p>Notes
<br>Bibliography
<br>Index
</P><BR> <H2>About the Author(s)</H2>
<P><b>Keith E. Yandell</b> is Professor of Philosophy and South Asian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.</P>
<BR><H2>Subject Categories</H2>
<p><A HREF="/tempress/philosophy.html" TARGET="_top">Philosophy and Ethics</a>
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