David Hume, “Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion" Flashcards
What conclusion does Philo reach from the enumeration of evils of this word
-That if God has created such an imperfect world, God cannot be just, merciful and benevolent.
Philo’s question to Cleanthes: “And is it possible, Cleanthes, that after all these reflections, and infinitely more, which might be suggested, you can still persevere in your Anthropomorphism, and assert the moral attributes of the Deity, his justice, benevolence, mercy, and rectitude, to be of the same nature with these virtues in human creatures?”
Why does Philo think that it’s not enough merely to prove the compatibility of God and evil
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the best way to influence people’s sentiments (and to turn them to believers) is to merely point to them the “miseries of life.”
When it comes to dealing with these miseries, science cannot help.
Only religion can, and this is why people accept it, and rightly so.
One possible response to this bleak view of the world and our place in it is offered by Leibniz, who denies that the world is bad and claims it is the best possible.
What is Epicurus’ formulation of the problem of evil, that Hume quotes? What does it tell us about the nature of God?
-“Epicurus’s old questions are yet unanswered. Is he willing to prevent evil, but not able? then is he impotent. Is he able, but not willing? then is he malevolent. Is he both able and willing? whence then is evil?”
This sort of problem leads some to think of God as incomprehensible, as someone who “works in mysterious ways” and to whom we should not attribute the human emotions of love, mercy, justice, etc.
-god is omnipotent, god is benevolent, evil exists in world… three things cannot exist with one another. If there is evil god either cant prevent it or doesn’t want to
What are the four possibilities for the first causes of the universe Philo envisions, and which one does he prefer?
-At some point there must have been some wrong choice that the designer made.
Philo makes his list of the four sources of evils (pain, illness, general weaknesses of human nature, natural disasters).
From these conditions stems the greatest part of natural evil.
And the fact that the world is designed to be this way shows that one should be skeptical about the goodness of God, if nothing else.
Philo envisions four possibilities for the first causes of the universe:
They are infinitely good
They are infinitely bad
They are opposite and are both good and bad (the Manichean theory)
They are neither good not bad
Philo thinks the fourth is the most likely possibility
