Does David Hume Allow Room for Accepting God’s Existence?

Document Type : The Quarterly Jornal

Authors

1 Postdoctoral fellow, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Literature and Foreign Languages, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran (corresponding author).

2 . Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Literature and Foreign Languages, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

10.22081/jpt.2024.68977.2122

Abstract

Hume was one of the greatest philosophers of the British tradition, whose intention in his philosophical writings was to formulate a skeptical and deceptive challenge, aiming to demonstrate that God does not exist. Recently, however, some researchers have sought to moderate Hume’s antagonistic approach to God’s existence, arguing that he accepted the possibility of God's existence. This view is largely based on an alternative reading of Hume’s stance on the design argument. Drawing upon the skeptical and naturalistic principles in Hume’s philosophical system, this article aims to demonstrate that these recent approaches regarding Hume’s position on God's existence, along with similar interpretations, are objectionable and problematic. The research method employed in this article is bibliographical, and the article is written using a descriptive-analytic approach. In each section, alongside David Hume’s views on the issues at hand, the works and interpretations of his commentators are cited and examined as necessary. Finally, we conclude that Hume allows no room for accepting God's existence in his philosophy.

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References

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