Wow... just wow

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Precursor to my post: If we are reading David Hume, the one who inspired Kant to write his masterpiece, and knowing that Hume and the very little exposure to Kant we have already read is blowing my mind, I have no idea what to expect when we actually dig deeper into Kant's writing.

I do not have much to say about the last section of the Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion because they were still very much over my head. However, what I did notice is that Philo completely decimated Demea's beliefs and ideas, and then Cleanthes came to the point directly after Demea left that he didn't want to talk on that subject any more because Philo had no boundaries. He spared no expense when it came to decimating the ideas and concepts of religion/faith having any ties to religion. However, what I did like were Hume's essays on miracles and suicide. Even Hume who uses reason and logic to his full extent comes to the point where he claims that if one is going to believe in God, then we should believe in Him through faith and not reason. He understands that we aren't going to know everything and that at some point we hit our limits and have to stop trying to. In Humes essay on suicide, all I could think of was a line from my favorite TV show that says "Your life is not your own," and I feel as if that ties in very well, and sums up part of this essay. Hume's writing also connects with the Bible in saying that there is a time and place for all things, but the most important thing to know that that time and place in which we is not dictated or controlled by us.

Sorry for the possibly lengthy post, but then again its hard not to with a writing this extensive. Did anyone else sense a kind of deeper emotion in the reading than you were expecting? It surprised me but I definitely did.

P.S. I commented on Eliza Colbert's and Stephen Davis' Posts.

Comments

Eliza Colbert said…
Your comment that Hume knows there is a limit to our knowledge is something that I have noticed in all the Enlightenment thinkers. While they all highly esteem reason and what it can show us, they all agree that there is a limit to what our reason can understand. Faith has to come in somewhere.
October 6, 2019 at 1:21 PM
Rebecca Belew said…
I love your final question, tying it all up. I too was left feeling all the emotions. My roller coaster of emotions kept me tied to the reading and the reality of the things he said. The way you focused on the idea that faith is absolutely necessary, even with all the reason in the world.
October 6, 2019 at 4:12 PM
Stephen Davis said…
I enjoy your point that some things are beyond our capabilities to use reason especially when it comes to the divine because even though some of the brightest men and women have attempted to explain the divine, all have failed. This is because, Hume himself said, that belief in God must be by faith as reason is unable to determine its validity.
October 6, 2019 at 4:19 PM
Rachael Gregson said…
Hi, Jacob, don't apologize for your lengthy post. I found it very necessary, and I too agree that even while Hume was a devoted believer in logic, he knew his limits and he drew the line when it came to God. Because a relationship with God cannot formed through logic. Logic just simply takes the beauty away from it. We walk by faith, not by sight.
October 6, 2019 at 5:33 PM
Osten Belew said…
Philo's decimation reminds me of a joke about engineers. To write out the full joke would take too long but essentially the point is that Engineers tend to fix problems that result in them no longer having a job. This is the same with Phylo. Because of his reckless desire to understand he steps too hard on the toes of those he is trying to debate to the point that they no longer want to debate. While his desire for knowledge may have been in good intent, not knowing the effect of his desire and the limits of those he is debating caused him to work himself out of a job.
October 6, 2019 at 7:54 PM
Gabby Strahan said…
During the discussions in class regarding the Philosophy portions of the course, I sit in my desk wishing I could shake these philosophers and scream that they are unnecessarily exhausting themselves. These philosophers take it upon themselves to prove God's existence primarily using reason, which is never how God intended it to be. Galations 2:16 says, "They are justified freely because they have not done anything nor given anything in return, but by faith alone they have been made holy by the gift of God." Faith is how we as christians find salvation and the need to reason through or prove God's existence negates the faith aspect, since faith is professing belief in what we don't see. I am glad Hume addressed that in his writings and I am glad you addressed it in your post.
October 7, 2019 at 5:26 PM
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