The Friends of Cleanthes: a Case of Conceptual Poverty

Abstract

Whatever our considered judgement may be concerning Hume’s arguments in his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, the work is undoubtedly one of the classics of our philosophical heritage. As we know, the Dialogues concern the possibility of inferring God’s existence from the nature of or the existence of the world about us. Cleanthes argues for this possibility, while Philo argues against it. Most scholars now agree that Philo represents, more or less, Hume’s own views on these matters.