Kant's Criticisms of Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion

Bibliographic Data

ID8073573
AuthorsReed Winegar (0000-0002-9469-2938, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume23
Issue5
Pages888-910
Publication date2015-07-10
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueBritish Journal for the History of Philosophy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0960-8788 • E-ISSN: 1469-3526
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09608788.2015.1047733
OpenAlexW1814622670
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited22

According to recent commentators like Paul Guyer, Kant agrees with Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1) that physico-theology can never provide knowledge of God and (2) that the concept of God, nevertheless, provides a useful heuristic principle for scientific enquiry. This paper argues that Kant, far from agreeing with Hume, criticizes Hume's Dialogues for failing to prove that physico-theology can never yield knowledge of God and that Kant correctly views Hume's Dialogues as a threat to, rather than an anticipation of, his own view that the concept of God provides a useful heuristic principle for science. The paper concludes that Kant's critique of physico-theology reflects Kant's deep dissatisfaction with Hume's manner of argumentation and suggests that Kant's attempt to provide a more successful critique of physico-theology merits continued philosophical attention

Anticipation (artificial intelligence · Argumentation theory · Epistemology · Heuristic · Natural (archaeology · Natural theology · Theology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Computer Science · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought · Philosophy

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