The Natural History of Religion

by David Hume

Overview

Hume begins with the observation that there is much variety in people's taste (or the aesthetic judgments people make). However, Hume argues that there is a common mechanism in human nature that gives rise to, and often even provides justification for, such judgments. He takes this aesthetic sense to be quite similar to the moral sense for which he argues in his Book 3 of A Treatise of Human Nature (1739-1740) and in An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (1751). Furthermore, he argues that this still leaves room for the ability to refine one's aesthetic palate. (Fieser, 2006, §2) Hume took as his premise that the great diversity and disagreement regarding matters of taste had two basic sources - sentiment, which was to some degree naturally varying, and critical facility, which could be cultivated. Each person is a combination of these of two sources, and Hume endeavors to delineate the admirable qualities of a critic, that they might augment their natural sense of beauty into a reliable faculty of judgment. There are a variety of qualities of the good critic that he describes, each of which contributes to an ultimately reliable and just ability to judge.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781615342013
Publisher:	Ezreads Publications, LLC
Publication date:	04/20/2010
Pages:	82
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.20(d)

Editorial Reviews

"A minor classic . . . The essay has all the celebrated clarity and incisiveness of Hume, and it provides us, in a short and readable form, with the substance of the beliefs about the origins of religion which dominated the first attempts of later and more scientific writers to account for the rise and development of religion."
Philosophy



"A philosophical classic that caused considerable stir in its time. It is good to have a new editions of this brief work completely edited for the use of modern students."
Peabody Journal of Education



"Hume's view of religion was one-side and his anthropology out of date, but his blows were shrewd. In the historical development of modern theology his challenge has a point of departure; and even today, as the editor says, unless we have an answer to him our faith is unreal."
The Times Literary Supplement

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