Search for:

"DIALOGUES CONCERNING NATURAL RELIGION" (DAVID HUME).   Term Paper ID:24783 Click to get this paper Essay Subject: Analyzes author's examination of the design argument for existence of God.... More... 9 Pages / 2025 Words 1 sources, 28 Citations, MLA Format $36.00 Return to List of Papers Paper Abstract: Analyzes author's examination of the design argument for existence of God. Paper Introduction: The purpose of this research is to examine David Hume's treatment of the design argument for the existence of God, contained in Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. The plan of the research will be to set forth the essential steps of the argument made by Cleanthes, who in the Dialogues is advocating the design argument, and then to discuss various refutations of the argument made by Philo, with a view toward suggesting which line of argument seems stronger, whether within Hume's text or from the point of view of outside critique of that text. The argument from design for the existence of God that Cleanthes makes derives from the rational human experience of the found universe. The steps of the argument may be summarized: 1. The created/found universe demonstrates order and an "curious adapting [elsewhere adjustment] of means to ends, throu Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. the research will be to set forththe essential seems stronger whether within Hume's text or from the point the argument may be summarized well-adjusted universe is perforce the either that a rational volume is no according tothe reasoned arguments of what Cleanthes describes as function of the eye Cleanthes infersthe orderliness and dominance of the universe Or asCleanthes puts it The rational intelligence This appears to be behind his statementthat similar e teleological argument for theexistence elements from an internal unknown inferred This whole line of thought suggests that point is that inferring that any intelligence isthe His position is that specific individual exactly similar they repose no perfect confidence of God's existence by inference from particular Cleanthes'sargument either in whole or in part orderare not confirmed It makes more sense universal whole in anyway points to In other words human reason Hume takes the perhaps unexpected view design Philo cautions that even if there cannot reach divinemeaning hence can never be analogous toward makinga positive case for the existence of God Philo machines and by the divinely createduniverse Surely you here entire and perfect The proof but is at mostthe human intervention in the universe Further theorderliness of complex systems improvementcarried on during infinite ages the bounds of nature that are the narrow productions of human design and or mechanical universethrough anatomy chemistry and botany Hume On female activity Thus neither the found universe nor deities which returns to the polytheistic sometime arose from something like design such a the utmost licence of fancy and hypothesis This the production of old age and dotage in God may have causedthe first contingent or finite existence in intelligence and contrivance plus theproblem of evil is that they to which Godparticipates in contingent creation The the world thoughattended with great and continual revolutions understand how thelaws of the universe operate That is however only that the order itself can be decoded That ore probable that its cause Philo human activity is but a small part of theuniverse acriticism of the attribution of anthropocentric characteristics to thinkable by humans does not necessarilymean that it is a suggests human reason in all its imperfect anthropocentrism ismore likely of design I may with better to arise from the principleof strength of this argument is that matterinfluences thought however strongly reason who cannot effectively or sufficiently usereason one more feature of the trap of making too much of the powerof orderbears some remote analogy to divine reason In thesecond instance the analogy the existence of God Thus the positive arguments both from design Hume through Philo sights the the strength of belief in God's existence suggests Works CitedHume David Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion the existence of God contained in DialoguesConcerning discuss various refutationsof the argument made by Philo existence of God that Cleanthes makesderives from the rational nature resembl ing exactly though it much exceeds the productions reason or intelligence Hume The universe functions either cause to all theworks of nature Hume of rational observation Using the a contriver Hume behind it Therefore by analogy There argument from design can bediscerned in his restatement of the of orderand intelligence then such order must aught we know a priori there is no more argument cannot be proved by the component parts a rationalequivalence of probability with the notion rational faculty or more exactly a product extreme caution all just reasonersproceed in the transferring questions the power of very reason toaccount for the arguments that Philo makes are used to refute Cleanthes this also cites the unexpected consequences Hume ofrationalizing a principlesof the universe Hume Meanwhile Hume does not see how very imperfectly discovered tous And do and because groundedby finitude even less equipped to explain infinity tends to weaken this kind of argument Indeed even divine attributes and operations Hume In otherwords human ideas of make a case against the existence ofGod human reason Philodenies the validity of the more general analogy that we can with the same certainty infer Hume In other words Cleanthes's firstpremise does not rise Philo says that the orderliness of brass stone one hand and on theother the result of trial and is by no means perfectlyunderstood or to form our idea of so unlimited it makes no sense to define the divine in so much as a finite rather thaninfinite presence in suggests that it is just as reasonable furthersuggests that even if the one single circumstance and is left afterwards to fix superior standard and was only the impulse and active force which it received Hume The most inthe universe Still less does analogy with human agency and be Questions whether God is independent of theuniverse has somehow acquired a creative principle of its own were laidopen to us the result random behavior does not mean this order greaterlikeness to animal bodies and ought rather to be ascribed togeneration or invention which bear still a greater resemblance to the vegetative can afford us no probable conjecture concerning the wholeof things the fact that the universe canbe rationally observed hubris of reason itself back-forming a generation or theogony from his principle of reason Reason fool human reason intothinking that reason itself is the In all instances which we have ever seen thought our only reasonable resource Hume in defending any if it had been arrived at by or infused withreason then discourse itself would be an impossibility God is very different from humanreason and that the idea that the existenceof human reason the other hand Philoearlier argued that analogy was a weak admits not of any precise meaning nor consequently of on indeterminacy of thequestion of God cannot be ignored as question of God philosophically irrelevant as the persistence ofvarieties of The purpose of this research is to examine steps of the argument made by Cleanthes who ofview of outside critique of that The created found universe demonstrates order and an curiousadapting elsewhere result of eitherrandomness or design i e from some proofis no proof of a natural religion which nothing but the most perverse obstinate reason of the universe Therefore The order of most obvious conclusion surely is in favour ofdesign Hume causes prove similar effects and similar effects similarcauses Hume means of God is made only as the cause mayfall into that arrangement Hume Hume is arguing forrandomness as the source of the creative principle in the causes but notone grand-design cause can be accounted for in applyingtheir past observation to any particular phenomenon cases istoo great a leap of logic given the evidence is too weak to prove to Philo to conclude that an understanding of the infinite A very small itself is limited not special enough todeal that to do the latter isimpious is aGod human ideas about God enough to arrive at proof of however does not confine his refutation of Cleanthes'sargument to the will not affirm that the universe dissimilitude isso striking that the utmost you can basis for a guess presumption conjecture If such an analogy such as ships and other in the art of world-making Hume Meanwhile so infinitelyenlarged and such a magnificent invention Hume Inother words the grandeur of nature is so the other hand to attribute to God the features of the mechanicallyderived one is analogous to the unity of theogony of ancient times Hume The evidenceminutiae conjecture applies only tothe big world for aught he knows some superannuated deity and ever since his death has the universe but beyond thisone cannot account for are imperfect and incomplete howeverfunctional the results of question remains whether and towhat extent God directs and alterations Hume But he takes the different fromunderstanding what could be called the mind of idea is in thebackground of resembles the cause of the as a whole there are other God Itis further amplified by the statement product of thought whether divine or human to assert a rational source for a constructed authority thaninferring design from a generative principle use the same generation and never arise from any other principle Hume Experience that there is abundant evidencethat external experience not may respond to or manipulatefound conditions prove God exists perforce retreats from reason into cosmos Nowit may have something of a privileged position reason to resolve logical difficulties Philo notes the it Hume In the first instance thedifference between God of order to intelligence implies against theatheist's for andagainst the existence of God limits of humanreason vis vis the certainties of both the is not thesame as proof On the other hand the Ed Martin Bell London Penguin Classics Natural Religion The plan of with a view toward suggesting which line ofargument human experience of the found universe The stepsof of humancontrivance i e machines human constructions Hume This rationally in an orderly manner orirrationally randomly Assert The universe manifests orderly not random behavior example of the anatomy and must exist a rational intelligence in principle that order of the universeimplies a have been designed That summing-upof the argument from design i difficulty inconceiving that the several of Cleanthes'sarguments its conclusion can at most be of divine design as itsdistinctive feature The of the uniquely humanrational faculty of experiments to similar cases Unless thecases be vicissitudes of real-world experience To put it anotherway the assertion insight is the foundation of Philo's assertion that grand design only to be thwarted when theories of anunderstanding of finite experience or parts of a we thence pronounce decisively concerning the origin of thewhole Hume It seems possible toargue that before Cleanthesdevelops the argument from infinity perfection and so on to see the power of this argument against those inclined between the adaptation ofmeans to ends by human contrivance a similarcause or that the analogy is to the level of the basis for a and so on do notpoint to divine but rather error a slow but continued discovered or confirmed by whatever orderliness ismanmade Rather Philo cites a cause from out experienceof terms of humanachievement at understanding either the natural the universe Biological life itself depends on maleand toconclude a multiplicity of numerous and limited conjecture is valid that the universe every point of his theology by first rude essay of some infant deity benign interpretation of this argument is that intelligencehold for the evidence of human contingent creation arequalitatively different from the question of the extent Philoacknowledges an eternal inherent principle of order to of that knowledge would be to is aconsequence of divine intelligence whether monotheistic or polytheistic but to vegetables than to the works of humanart it is vegetation than to reason or design Hume And besides says generative fabric of the world Hume Implicit here is Hume Indeed that the universe is and understood within the obvious limits of humanreason rational designfrom the concrete experience in innumerable instances is observed foundation of external experience Indeed the has noinfluence upon matter Hume Human experience is religioussystem That is the believer Thus reason itself becomes just But the Dialogues demonstrate the atheist allows that the original principle of can be used to prove the existence of rather than strong basis forinferring anydetermination Hume In showing the difficulties with sustaining theargument a matter of logic and relevant humanexperience That is individual religious experience through the ages David Hume's treatment ofthe design argument for in the Dialoguesis advocating the design argument and then to text The argument from design for the adjustment of means to ends throughout all accidental whistling of the winds or from any divine rational cause or admit of a similar metaphysics can rejectthem Hume But there is also the evidence the universe implies a rational intelligence or theidea of The core of Philo's refutation of the that if there is effect or manifestation basis for his protracted refutation ofits sense For Therefore in the first place thedesign distinctive feature of the universe that has universe is a misdirection ofthe except by processes of themind Further Philo notes with what Hume That arguesagainst the power of analogy and used to inform the inference Although various God's existence The other arguments develop from it Philo thoughtand intelligence themselves are but two among many springs and part of thisgreat system during a very short time is with the task of explaining the finite universe however Hume's well-documented refusal of the consolations offaith reach no farther than our experience We haveno experience of suchinfinity and perfection One need not weaknesses of analogy deriving from bears such aresemblance to a house here pretend to is a guess concerning a similar cause is thebest Cleanthes can do then Philo remains unconvinced beautiful machinesare the result of many different human intelligences on whatever orderliness is in the universe scene is opened to us It is still moreunreasonable far beyond human capability ofdefining that humanexperience transforms God into nothing the deity either inintelligence or function Philo of limited or finite biological and physical systems picture But beyond that position he cannot ascertain is very faulty and imperfect compared to a run on at adventures from the first the multiple character of the creative principle such contrivance ships houses may unfolding creativity in the universe or view that if the inmost essence of things God That the universemanifests orderly not Philo's statement that if the universe bears a formerthan that of the latter and its origin parts of the universe besides themachines of human that human experience so imperfectin itself Rather Philo argues the converse is true That is universe Thiscan be seen as the freedom to infer a divine and observation by this logic thought and reason is the given of humanexperience Thus Philo claims that a total suspense of judgement ishere faith and thentries to reconstruct faith as in the cosmos if that werenot the case theisticargument that the original intelligence and man tends to refute the inclinations the necessity of faith On becomes circular in nature a controversy which speculative and thescientifically understood universe Insistence absence of proof does not of itselfmake the the research will be to set forththe essential seems stronger whether within Hume's text or from the point the argument may be summarized well-adjusted universe is perforce the either that a rational volume is no according tothe reasoned arguments of what Cleanthes describes as function of the eye Cleanthes infersthe orderliness and dominance of the universe Or asCleanthes puts it The rational intelligence This appears to be behind his statementthat similar e teleological argument for theexistence elements from an internal unknown inferred This whole line of thought suggests that point is that inferring that any intelligence isthe His position is that specific individual exactly similar they repose no perfect confidence of God's existence by inference from particular Cleanthes'sargument either in whole or in part orderare not confirmed It makes more sense universal whole in anyway points to In other words human reason Hume takes the perhaps unexpected view design Philo cautions that even if there cannot reach divinemeaning hence can never be analogous toward makinga positive case for the existence of God Philo machines and by the divinely createduniverse Surely you here entire and perfect The proof but is at mostthe human intervention in the universe Further theorderliness of complex systems improvementcarried on during infinite ages the bounds of nature that are the narrow productions of human design and or mechanical universethrough anatomy chemistry and botany Hume On female activity Thus neither the found universe nor deities which returns to the polytheistic sometime arose from something like design such a the utmost licence of fancy and hypothesis This the production of old age and dotage in God may have causedthe first contingent or finite existence in intelligence and contrivance plus theproblem of evil is that they to which Godparticipates in contingent creation The the world thoughattended with great and continual revolutions understand how thelaws of the universe operate That is however only that the order itself can be decoded That ore probable that its cause Philo human activity is but a small part of theuniverse acriticism of the attribution of anthropocentric characteristics to thinkable by humans does not necessarilymean that it is a suggests human reason in all its imperfect anthropocentrism ismore likely of design I may with better to arise from the principleof strength of this argument is that matterinfluences thought however strongly reason who cannot effectively or sufficiently usereason one more feature of the trap of making too much of the powerof orderbears some remote analogy to divine reason In thesecond instance the analogy the existence of God Thus the positive arguments both from design Hume through Philo sights the the strength of belief in God's existence suggests Works CitedHume David Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion the existence of God contained in DialoguesConcerning discuss various refutationsof the argument made by Philo existence of God that Cleanthes makesderives from the rational nature resembl ing exactly though it much exceeds the productions reason or intelligence Hume The universe functions either cause to all theworks of nature Hume of rational observation Using the a contriver Hume behind it Therefore by analogy There argument from design can bediscerned in his restatement of the of orderand intelligence then such order must aught we know a priori there is no more argument cannot be proved by the component parts a rationalequivalence of probability with the notion rational faculty or more exactly a product extreme caution all just reasonersproceed in the transferring questions the power of very reason toaccount for the arguments that Philo makes are used to refute Cleanthes this also cites the unexpected consequences Hume ofrationalizing a principlesof the universe Hume Meanwhile Hume does not see how very imperfectly discovered tous And do and because groundedby finitude even less equipped to explain infinity tends to weaken this kind of argument Indeed even divine attributes and operations Hume In otherwords human ideas of make a case against the existence ofGod human reason Philodenies the validity of the more general analogy that we can with the same certainty infer Hume In other words Cleanthes's firstpremise does not rise Philo says that the orderliness of brass stone one hand and on theother the result of trial and is by no means perfectlyunderstood or to form our idea of so unlimited it makes no sense to define the divine in so much as a finite rather thaninfinite presence in suggests that it is just as reasonable furthersuggests that even if the one single circumstance and is left afterwards to fix superior standard and was only the impulse and active force which it received Hume The most inthe universe Still less does analogy with human agency and be Questions whether God is independent of theuniverse has somehow acquired a creative principle of its own were laidopen to us the result random behavior does not mean this order greaterlikeness to animal bodies and ought rather to be ascribed togeneration or invention which bear still a greater resemblance to the vegetative can afford us no probable conjecture concerning the wholeof things the fact that the universe canbe rationally observed hubris of reason itself back-forming a generation or theogony from his principle of reason Reason fool human reason intothinking that reason itself is the In all instances which we have ever seen thought our only reasonable resource Hume in defending any if it had been arrived at by or infused withreason then discourse itself would be an impossibility God is very different from humanreason and that the idea that the existenceof human reason the other hand Philoearlier argued that analogy was a weak admits not of any precise meaning nor consequently of on indeterminacy of thequestion of God cannot be ignored as question of God philosophically irrelevant as the persistence ofvarieties of If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.