A Little History of Philosophy (Little Histories)

by Nigel Warburton

He believed the Design Argument was based on bad logic. His Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748) included a chapter attacking the idea that we can prove God's existence in this way. That chapter and one arguing that it was never reasonable to believe eyewitness reports of miracles were extremely controversial. At the time in Britain it was difficult to be openly against religious beliefs. This meant Hume never got a job at a university despite being one of the great thinkers of his time. His friends gave him good advice when they told him not to allow publication of his most powerful attack on the usual arguments for God's existence, his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779), until after his death. Does the Design Argument prove the existence of God? Hume thought it didn't. The argument does not provide enough evidence to conclude that an all-powerful, all-knowing and all-good being must exist. Most of Hume's philosophy concentrated on the kind of evidence we can give in support of our beliefs.