Ideas from 'Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion' by David Hume [1751], by Theme Structure

[found in 'Dialogues and Natural History of Religion' by Hume,David (ed/tr Gaskin,J.C.A.) [OUP 1993,0-19-282932-7]].

green numbers give full details    |     back to texts     |     expand these ideas

---

2. Reason / E. Argument / 3. Analogy

6961	An analogy begins to break down as soon as the two cases differ

12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 4. Pro-Empiricism

21285

Events are baffling before experience, and obvious after experience

28. God / A. Divine Nature / 3. Divine Perfections

6959	We can't assume God's perfections are like our ideas or like human attributes

28. God / B. Proving God / 1. Proof of God

6957	The objects of theological reasoning are too big for our minds

28. God / B. Proving God / 2. Proofs of Reason / b. Ontological Proof critique

21255

No being's non-existence can imply a contradiction, so its existence cannot be proved a priori

28. God / B. Proving God / 3. Proofs of Evidence / a. Cosmological Proof

21254

A chain of events requires a cause for the whole as well as the parts, yet the chain is just a sum of parts

1435	If something must be necessary so that something exists rather than nothing, why can't the universe be necessary?

28. God / B. Proving God / 3. Proofs of Evidence / b. Teleological Proof

6962	The thing which contains order must be God, so see God where you see order

28. God / B. Proving God / 3. Proofs of Evidence / c. Teleological Proof critique

6960	Analogy suggests that God has a very great human mind

6958	How can we pronounce on a whole after a brief look at a very small part?

21279

If the divine cause is proportional to its effects, the effects are finite, so the Deity cannot be infinite

21282

Design cannot prove a unified Deity. Many men make a city, so why not many gods for a world?

21280

From a ship you would judge its creator a genius, not a mere humble workman

6966	Creation is more like vegetation than human art, so it won't come from reason

21281

This excellent world may be the result of a huge sequence of trial-and-error

21283

Humans renew their species sexually. If there are many gods, would they not do the same?

21284

This Creator god might be an infant or incompetent or senile

6967	Order may come from an irrational source as well as a rational one

21286

Motion often begins in matter, with no sign of a controlling agent

21287

The universe could settle into superficial order, without a designer

21288

Ideas arise from objects, not vice versa; ideas only influence matter if they are linked

21256

A surprise feature of all products of 9 looks like design, but is actually a necessity

6965	The universe may be the result of trial-and-error

6964	From our limited view, we cannot tell if the universe is faulty

6963	Why would we infer an infinite creator from a finite creation?