Hume's Philosophy of Religion brings together for the first time the whole range of Hume's immensely important critique of religion. The major concern is with a clear discussion and presentation of philosophical issues wherever they occur in Hume's writings, but items in the history of ideas, questions of interpretation and biographical details are introduced when they contribute to an understanding of Hume's position. Already reviewed as a standard work on Hume on religion and as a good general introduction to Hume's thought, this new edition has been extensively revised and extended. '...it is hard to imagine how a study of Hume on religion could have been at once more comprehensive, accurate, readable and scholarly than this...it is strongly to be recommended to all who have occasion to study or to teach Hume in colleges or universities.' W.D.Hudson, Expository Times.

David Hume is traditionally seen as a devastating critic of religion. He is widely read as an infidel, a critic of the Christian faith, and an attacker of popular forms of worship. His reputation as irreligious is well forged among his readers, and his argument against miracles sits at the heart of the narrative overview of his work that perennially indoctrinates thousands of first-year philosophy students. In Toward a Humean True Religion, Andre Willis succeeds in complicating Hume’s split approach to religion, showing that Hume was not, in fact, dogmatically against religion in all times and places. Hume occupied a “watershed moment,” Willis contends, when old ideas of religion were being replaced by the modern idea of religion as a set of epistemically true but speculative claims. Thus, Willis repositions the relative weight of Hume’s antireligious sentiment, giving significance to the role of both historical and discursive forces instead of simply relying on Hume’s personal animus as its driving force. Willis muses about what a Humean “true religion” might look like and suggests that we think of this as a third way between the classical and modern notions of religion. He argues that the cumulative achievements of Hume’s mild philosophic theism, the aim of his moral rationalism, and the conclusion of his project on the passions provide the best content for this “true religion.”

In this volume, authors Alan Bailey and Dan O’Brien examine the full import of David Hume’s arguments and the context of the society in which his work came to fruition. They analyze the nuanced natured of Hume's philosophical discourse and provide an informed look into his position on the possible content and rational justification of religious belief. The authors first detail the pressures and forms of repression that confronted any 18th century thinker wishing to challenge publicly the truth of Christian theism. From there, they offer an overview of Hume's writings on religion, paying particular attention to the inter-relationships between the various works. They show that Hume's writings on religion are best seen as an artfully constructed web of irreligious argument that seeks to push forward a radical outlook, one that only emerges when the attention shifts from the individual sections of the web to its overall structure and context. Even though there is no explicit denial in any of Hume's published writings or private correspondence of the existence of God, the implications of his arguments often seem to point strongly towards atheism. David Hume was one of the leading British critics of Christianity and all forms of religion at a time when public utterances or published writings denying the truth of Christianity were liable to legal prosecution. His philosophical and historical writings offer a sustained and remarkably open critique of religion that is unmatched by any previous author writing in English. Yet, despite Hume’s widespread reputation amongst his contemporaries for extreme irreligion, the subtle and measured manner in which he presents his position means that it remains far from clear how radical his views actually were.

A central problem for the non-specialist reader over the works of Hume today is that his mellifluous 18th century prose appears strange to our eyes and ears... What follows, therefore, is what the present editors did about it. The central purpose is to open to Hume's original target audience his writings on religious affairs; a subject which was of central importance to him – and which remains of perennial interest to humankind. David Hume's writings on history, politics and philosophy have shaped thought to this day. His bold scepticism ranged from common notions of the 'self ' to criticism of standard theistic proofs. He insisted on grounding understandings of popular religious beliefs in human psychology rather than divine revelation, and he aimed to disentangle philosophy from religion in order to allow the former to pursue its own ends. In this book, Professors David W Purdie and Peter S Fosl decipher some of Hume's most challenging texts for the modern reader, while preserving the sharp intellect and undaunted nerve for which Hume is famous. Hume's spirit is brought alive for contemporary times and his writing is made accessible for its intended audience: the general public.

Penetrating, ironic, and witty, David Hume's writings on religion scandalized his contemporaries. Ever since Hume, traditional religious doctrines have been intellectually on the defensive. Yet these writings have also provided some materials for conducting the defense, and have raised conceptual problems still unresolved. This volume contains all of Hume's works specifically on religion.

Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion is a philosophical work written by the Scottish philosopher David Hume. Through dialogue, three fictional characters named Demea, Philo, and Cleanthes debate the nature of God's existence. While all three agree that a god exists, they differ sharply in opinion on God's nature or attributes and how, or if, humankind can come to knowledge of a deity. In the Dialogues, Hume's characters debate a number of arguments for the existence of God, and arguments whose proponents believe through which we may come to know the nature of God. Such topics debated include the argument from design - for which Hume uses a house - and whether there is more suffering or good in the world (Argument from evil)

Presents four works that are central to the 18th-century Scottish philosopher's campaign against organized religion. The three posthumous essays were probably written at the height of his campaign, but he dropped the project on advice from a friend. The spelling, capitalization, and punctuation are modernized and the speakers of each dialogue are identified with bold type. First published in 1980. No index. Paper edition (unseen), $5.95. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR