Hume’s Atheological Reason

Abstract

Hume’s naturalism, the consequence of which is not only the reduction of the cognitive powers to sophisticated instincts but also the destruction of the epistemological aspirations of theological speculation, forced, contrary to the opinion prevailing quite commonly in Hume’s times, a redefinition of the way of investigating religious issues within philosophy. The Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion is still a critical text, seemingly removing religion beyond the realm of (epistemological) reason. Still, the simultaneously written the Natural History of Religion is a positive exposition of what Hume believes a philosophy of religion should be. In this paper, I would like to look at Hume’s strategy of criticizing the objective claims of theology and at the project of naturalizing religion and making a reflection on it a part of scientific rather than metaphysic investigation.