Preview

Hume's Argument Against The Existence Of God

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
293 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Hume's Argument Against The Existence Of God
Both the logical problem of evil and the evidential problem of evil are arguments presented by Hume against the existence of God. In Hume’s arguments he tries to convince his audience the God does not exist because evil does.
The first argument presented by Hume is the logical problem of evil. In this argument Hume is saying that the belief in a God that is capable of allowing evil, even though he is supposed to have benevolent intentions toward us is contradictory. He explains that evil does exist even though the existence of God should mean that it does not exist. He is using the existence of evil to support his claim that God does not exist.
Hume’s second argument against God is the Evidential problem of evil. This argument contains a

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    To discuss the argument of Hume on miracles, Mackie says we must first develop definitions of laws and miracles that does not automatically mean that the concept of a miracle is incoherent or is logically impossible the miracle occurs. ~ Mackie notes that if we define a miracle as a violation of a law of nature and set a law to be a pattern of how the world works, then it is impossible that the miracle occurs. These definitions imply that the bill violated the miracle was not really a law, because it is an exception; eZeentis thus not a miracle, because it does not violate any law. But that argument Hume and Mackie said that to dis- cuss Hume's argument we need different definitions of laws and miracles. We need an account of the laws and miracles…

    • 275 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The explanation for why someone or something is evil can not be easily defined, as the answer may vary based on a person’s psychological thought process or intellectual reasoning. The justification of this paper is to discuss Peter Van Inwagen and his philosophical response to the argument from evil, as well as his free will defense theory for the answer to this complication. I will carefully evaluate the two standard objections to his solution and offer my personal opinion of rather or not he offers a successful resolution for this universal problem.…

    • 321 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    David Hume's changed the idea of skepticism in a very different way. While Descartes used doubt and skepticism as a way to find out the foundations and roots of knowledge,Hume used sleo contrast with what we saw as the ordinary claims of knowledge. Hume explains two types of skepticism: antecedent and consequent. Both of these come in a very moderate and extreme form. He explains antecedent skepticism by using the Descartes theory of universal doubt. He explains that there is no principle that is more self evident than doubt and even if there was we would not be able to advance ahead of it because we our still able to doubt and reason deductively. This would mean Antecedent skepticism is incurable.…

    • 304 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hume’s version of empiricism begins with his distinction between analytic propositions “relationship of ideas,” which he considers to be a priori and true by definition, and synthetic propositions, which he considers to be a posteriori (“matters of fact”), and which are opposite of analytic propositions because they’re derived from our senses.…

    • 324 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    There is one prevailing question we ask ourselves consistently, “Does God exist?” Every human answer’s that question in their own unique way, which is contingent upon their beliefs, experiences, and influences. The existence of God was significantly debated among philosophers during the 18th and 19th centuries and each esteemed philosopher had a distinct argument explaining their rationale, while criticizing another’s. In this paper, I will analyze William Paley’s argument, “The Teleological Argument,” and how it is disparaged by David Hume and his argument for apparent…

    • 86 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    protocol paper 1

    • 831 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Summary: In the chapter, "The problem of evil," James Rachles and Stuart Rachles arise the problem of evil by Job’s story. Although logical problem of evil are distinguished evidentiary problem of evil, both of them are play a key role religious belief. The Authors were not focus on used the problem of evil to prove or disprove God’ existence. But they elaborated on the response to various ideas about how to reconcile God with evil. According to authors, none of them were successful.…

    • 831 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    David Hume puts forward two separate but very closely related arguments against miracles. Hume argues that the probability of miracles actually happening is so low that is irrational and illogical to believe that miracles do occur. Hume is an empiricist, meaning that he emphasises experience and observations of the world as the way of learning new things.…

    • 1133 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Now using the same problem, evidential problem of evil cannot be attributed to it because that is their own argument. Their argument is that evil could be prevented from even happening. But the problem is how can one omniscient being be in control of every situation known to man? Doesn’t that just seem impossible? Or is it not? There is a difference between to know how to prove that and how to have a rational meaning to believe that. With our…

    • 581 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Argument from Design tries to prove the existence of God by asserting the claim that in order for a design to exist there must have been a designer (God). The idea that everything has a purpose and is determined fails because it doesn’t prove that the living organisms have only one designer. Hume reflects upon Paleys argument and develops a counter argument which he suggests disproves the idea of one and only one…

    • 1199 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Argumentative Essay: Paley vs. Hume and the existence of a higher being Criticism of religious theories and practices is clearly valid and necessary. After all, what caused Jesus’s crucifixion was likely his disapproval of the resistance against his practices and beliefs. Accordingly, religious criticism is certainly more effective if it is respectful rather than dismissiveness, as it has the potential to elicit meaningful dialogue. While some claim that we come from cells that evolved into organisms, others argue that humans are primitive, and that science poses a better explanation to evolution than a fictional higher being. The argument of the former, however, is that if the earth came from a cell, that cell had to come from somewhere…

    • 1278 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    David Hume is a renowned Philosopher that has shaped the ideas of cause and effect (causality) as we know them today. He suggested that true cause and effect relationship has to be the result of A causing B. The occurrence of B happening is contingent on the fact that A occurs before B, thus causing B to happen. Since he holds that this is the only rational way to conclude that one thing causes another to happen, he goes as far as to say that human beings will never know the exact cause that takes place in order for B to be the result. Hume comes to this conclusion because he maintains that there are secrete causes that cannot be observed by the human eye, thus it is impossible for humans to rationally conclude that one thing caused another…

    • 1897 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In fact McCloskey places the bar even lower by referring to the “proofs of” rather than “arguments for” God’s existence, thereby overstating the Theist’s claim. With respect to the “proofs” for God’s existence that McCloskey attempts to deal with, namely the Cosmological and Teleological Arguments, McCloskey offers trivial objections that are easily answered. With respect to arguments for God’s non-existence, McCloskey offers the logical form of the problem of evil which, while rich in rhetoric, does not contain enough logic to necessitate its title. McCloskey ends his article with a pragmatic justification of Atheist, stating that Atheism is more comforting that Theism; a point that is stark in its irrelevance.…

    • 2161 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Rock of Theism” is what David Hume called the Problem of Evil as it is a strong argument for atheists to use against the existence of God and such a hard one for theists to address. The challenge of evil is the ultimate challenge to believe in God as it can’t be solved. The problem of evil causes problems for religious believers as it presents four problems, a theological problem as it challenges the nature of God, a philosophical problem as the believer has to accept conflicting claims, a diverse problem as evil comes in different forms with each requiring its own explanation and finally a challenging problem as the existence of evil and suffering is real and happening every day.…

    • 650 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Why Does God Allow Evil?

    • 1771 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Many people dispute the true intentions of God, himself, since the beginning of mankind. Opposing and concurring arguments can be just as primitive. Regardless of personal perspective on any indefinite theory, it is undeniable that the controversy between good and evil will inevitably exist. Two dominant philosophers discussed in “The Problem of Evil” are Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and David Hume. Both of these authors discuss interesting motives from both sides of the issue: why and why not God should allow evil.…

    • 1771 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    While many rationalists such as René Descartes support the notion that the concept of Inception is not possible, empiricists such as David Hume may think differently. Hume was an eighteenth-century Scottish philosopher known for his system of radical and philosophical empiricism, skepticism, and naturalism. In one of his works, Hume stated that one cannot create completely new ideas without either prior knowledge of those ideas, or experiencing those ideas. Put differently, he believed that the ideas of an individual are derived or inspired by other ideas that the individual has observed, because there is no such thing as an “original idea.” Taking Hume’s theory into account, in the movie Inception, the protagonist Dom Cobb teaches his new architect, Ariadne, how dreaming works. In their shared dream, Ariadne comes across Dom’s wife, Mal. While this…

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays