Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion – Free Download
Dec 4, 2009 History, Philosophy & Thinking, Religion and Ethics, Skeptical books
The Scottish Enlightenment was the dawn of a new way of thinking – rationalism, and the rejection of reasonless authority. Intellectuals were gathering in Edinburgh to discuss the discoveries of Newton, Copernicus and Bacon, and were churning out treatises and essays on philosophy, economics and political science at a breathtaking rate. Right in the middle of this was David Hume.
Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion consists of a debate between three characters – Cleanthes, Philo and Demea – who between them hash out some of the conflicts between rational thought and religious belief. Hume does not challenge the idea of a god as such, and this is not an atheist treatise, but he intelligently questions the assumptions of the time about such a being’s omnipotence and morality. He also presents arguments against the apparent self-evidence of intelligent design, a debate that still rages on over two centuries later.
The very idea of looking at, and questioning, the idea of god through the lens of rationality is something that many of us take for granted, and it can be hard to remember that it was once a novel concept. It’s worth picking up this book just to be reminded of that.
Free download from Librivox
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