Christian Rey H.

Balmori January 29, 2021

BS Psychology - 3 Philo 25 YD

A. Six Secular Philosophers

One of the most significant and prominent contributions toward this reading
would be the numerous writings of David Hume on religious issues. Hume advances a
systemic, skeptical criticism of the metaphysical basis of several theological
structures in these writings. Whatever view one brings of the philosophy of Hume
itself, discrediting the beliefs and tenets of conventional religious philosophy has
indeed been one of his main fundamental philosophical aims. However, there are
several important points of a dispute about the exact existence and reach of an
atheistic-like motive of Hume.

1. On Agnosticism
According to David Hume, Agnosticism is when an individual is
cynical or skeptical of religion. Agnosticism is an ideology wherein the
individual opts to view that perhaps the existence of a deity is unknown or
unknowable. The view that rational thought of man cannot provide sufficient
reasonable basis to validate their claim whether another notion of God exists
or even the belief that God didn't exist is yet another definition given. David
Hume has thought that the religion of theists has unfounded on sufficient
evidence, or in other words, it lacks credible claims to support the beliefs of
the religion. Furthermore, agnosticism can be best understood into two senses,
one which a decision leaves the doubter's mind as open to conviction as to
skepticism. This sort of agnostic is completely unsure as to whether or not a
[theistic] God exists, and is unable to tell which possibility is much more
probable. God was not, for him, something whose presence he tried to
entertain seriously. In some other way, though, [David Hume] he remained
agnostic. He thought that God has become a kind of meaningless figure
whereby unable to conclusively settle the matter, even though one would not
say verily a deity did not exist.

2. On Empiricism
 His empiricism is a strong baseline; therefore, it would be easy for us
to comprehend Hume’s work and study regarding theism. In his work, David
Hume has provided similar scientific concepts regarding the nature of human
experience and the capacity for empiricism to create skeptical conclusions
regarding our understanding of God that had already been evident. Working
from empiricist theory that perhaps the mind is inherently passive, Hume
argues that neither action nor affection can never be stopped nor created by
reason alone. However, since morality relates to acts and passions, it could not
be founded on reason. The viewpoint that knowledge is based on
sense-perception, which would be unconsciously received mostly by the
human psyche, is common towards this tradition.

3. On Natural Religion
Hume examines whether religious faith can be logical. Because Hume
was an empiricist (i.e. someone who assumes that all understanding comes
from experience), he believes that religious dogmas or ideologies are only
rational when the conceptual proof is adequately validated. Therefore the
query is, is there even enough proof in the universe to enable us to conclude
that God is inherently good, wise, strong, flawless? Hume doesn't question if
we can prove logically that God exists, nor whether we would come to every
finding of the existence of God rationally. The first question seems beyond
dispute, he argues; the second is originally uncertain.

4. On Classical Design Argument of God

David Hume’s arguments for nature are scientific arguments for God's
presence. Usually, although not always, such claims begin via trying to define
different scientific aspects of the universe that represent proof of intelligent
design and suggest the presence of God as the strongest evidence for such
features.

B. God, Evil, and Mystery

The vision of Irenaeus provides a vision and takes a historical viewpoint.
Owing to vulnerability and cluelessness, Adam's sin can be seen primarily as a lapse.
The reading argues that the phenomenon is seen not as a tragedy for humankind, but
rather something that people can benefit from. The sacred intent of making the
universe is an important principle of this claim. The belief of a skeptic would be that
man is ought to be seen as a fulfilled creation and also that the intention of God in
creating the universe was to provide such a fully-formed species with an acceptable
slum. Because God is compassionate and caring, the world he has built to occupy for
human existence seems to be as nice and comfortable as necessary, presumably. In
essence, the dilemma is close to that of a man who makes a shelter even for a pet
animal. In reality, because our universe includes sources of suffering, difficulty, and
threat of various types, the inference arises that an ideally virtuous and all-powerful
creator could have never created this world.