David Hume: Philosophical and Scientific Skepticism

It is impossible to exclude David Hume from the list of significant philosophers of the Enlightenment. It was during the 17th and 18th centuries in particular that Enlightenment thought grew up in the wake of the centuries of religious warfare that devastated Europe and that flared up periodically even after the Peace of Westphalia legitimated sectarian Christianity. It was characterized by interrogation of traditional conceptions of many facets of human experience, and by the middle of the 18th century secular interrogation of religion was routine. Hume's place in this scheme of intellectual history has been characterized as "advanc[ing] theories on the origin of popular religious beliefs, grounding such notions in human psychology rather than in rational argument or divine revelation" (Feiser, 2006). That is important because of Hume's frequent recourse to man as the measure of all things, including God. The big picture of Hume's view of morality and religion is that they were social--that is, manmade--constructions that were subject to the same principles of logic as science, mathematics, politics, and other disciplines. For Hume it was also abundantly clear that God was a human construction, or that, at minimum, nobody could satisfactorily produce evidence for the existence of a supreme being. He develops his ideas in this area in Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion and elsewhere in his writings.

In the Dialogues, Hume posits through a conceit named Cleanthes

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law, and out of it Schaffner derives a morality of the whole that he likens to communitarianism. Hume demands philosophical as well as scientific skepticism and a climate of free inquiry, not inquiry limited by institutions. Obviously that demands exercise of reason, but Hume does not believe that reason without linkage to reality can reveal anything in particular. Practical application of experience is required. Any knowledge of "matters of fact," whether in law, science, or merely a sound of a horse approaching, "is not, in any instance, attained by reasonings a priori; but arises entirely from experience" (2002, p. 71). Every effect has a cause, even if the cause is not known. Thus far, it would appear, Hume celebrates the achievements of mankind irrespective of divine intervention. However, by no means does Hume take the view that human experience is unproblematic. Indeed, the problem of evil is of concern to Hume's philosophy because it is linked to the problem of God. Basically it comes down to a question: If God is good and if God is almighty (as the theists claim), how is it that there is evil in the world? Hume rejects out of hand the Christian argument that there is really no evil and that saying there

Category: Philosophy - D