Abstract
We have seen that Hume rejects both natural theology and revealed religion. He has attempted to argue that there can be no a priori reasons for belief in a deity, that the order in nature does not suggest the intervening hand of a providential, Christian God, and that we should not believe that miracles have occurred. In sum, there are no good reasons to believe in God and there is no evidence in support of the truth of Christianity. In his Natural History of Religion, Hume seemingly turns away from the question of whether religious beliefs are justified and considers instead their history, providing a descriptive account of the origin of early religion and its subsequent growth. He is thus answering a question that Daniel Dennett (2007, 70) poses in his own recent natural history: ‘There was a time, not so very long ago by evolutionary standards, when there was no religion on this planet, and now there is lots of it. Why?’ Hume attempts to provide an answer to this question, but his account is not merely descriptive. We will see that Hume’s history is philosophically loaded: he intends to suggest that religious beliefs are likely to be false, and that his naturalistic story—one not involving supernatural, transcendent beings—is sufficient to explain the existence of religion on this planet.
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Notes
- 1.
Hume was not the first to adopt such an approach. See John Trenchard, The Natural History of Superstition, 1709.
- 2.
- 3.
Conjectures have also been put forward concerning the origins of certain Christian dogma. Worship of the Persian sun God Mithras and the Greek God Dionysius involved sacred meals in which the flesh and blood of their gods were consumed; Holy communion and belief in the real presence are possibly then a development of such rites (see Pagels 2003, 19).
- 4.
- 5.
See Hume 1778, 5.453n: ‘Even minced pyes, which custom had made a Christmas dish among the churchmen, was regarded, during that season, as a profane and superstitious viand by the sectaries; though at other times it agreed very well with their stomachs’; and also: ibid., 3.386, 4.45, 5.450, 5.502, and 5.572. Jennifer Herdt (1997, 168–88) has an extended discussion of Hume on self-deception and hypocrisy in religion.
- 6.
Theologians sometimes adopt the common consent argument: since belief in God is almost universal, this suggests that such belief is innate and likely to be true. A version of this argument appears in De Veritate, a work by the deist Herbert of Cherbury (1663), with which Hume would likely have been familiar.
- 7.
As Craig notes, however, there has been continuing input into the ongoing practice of religion—notably in the forms of natural religion and revelation—and this could provide the testimonial warrant that is lacking. As discussed, though, Hume has argued elsewhere that such input cannot provide the epistemic support that is required of it.
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Bailey, A., O’Brien, D. (2014). The Natural History of Religion. In: Hume's Critique of Religion: 'Sick Men's Dreams'. The New Synthese Historical Library, vol 72. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6615-0_10
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