Guidelines

What did cleanthes believe?

What did cleanthes believe?

Cleanthes is an “experimental theist”—”an exponent of orthodox empiricism”—who bases his beliefs about God’s existence and nature upon a version of the teleological argument, which uses evidence of design in the universe to argue for God’s existence and resemblance to the human mind.

What is Hume’s most famous for?

David Hume is famous for the elegance of his prose, for his radical empiricism, for his skepticism of religion, for his critical account of causation, for his naturalistic theory of mind, for his thesis that “reason is…the slave of the passions,” and for waking Immanuel Kant from his “dogmatic slumber,” as Kant …

What is Hume’s view about God’s perfection?

In this section Hume emphasizes the point that God’s being is “so different, and so much superior” to human nature that we are not able to form any clear or distinct idea of his nature and attributes, much less one based on our own qualities and characteristics.

What is Hume’s skepticism?

He was a Scottish philosopher who epitomized what it means to be skeptical – to doubt both authority and the self, to highlight flaws in the arguments of both others and your own. …

How does Hume define religion?

David Hume: Religion. As such, Hume rejects the truth of any revealed religion, and further shows that, when corrupted with inappropriate passions, religion has harmful consequences to both morality and society. Further, he argues, rational arguments cannot lead us to a deity.

What did Hume believe?

Hume was an Empiricist, meaning he believed “causes and effects are discoverable not by reason, but by experience”. He goes on to say that, even with the perspective of the past, humanity cannot dictate future events because thoughts of the past are limited, compared to the possibilities for the future.

How does Hume respond to skepticism?

He associates extreme Pyrrhonian skepticism with blanket attacks on all reasoning about the external world, abstract reasoning about space and time, or causal reasoning about matters of fact.

What does Hume say in the dialogues concerning natural religion?

Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. Summary. In Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion Hume explores whether religious belief can be rational. Because Hume is an empiricist (i.e. someone who thinks that all knowledge comes through experience), he thinks that a belief is rational only if it is sufficiently supported by experiential evidence.

Who are the characters in the book Hume?

In the Dialogues, all the characters make good Humean points, even Pamphilus and Demea. The difficulty comes in determining who speaks for Hume when the characters disagree. Hume has been interpreted as Cleanthes/Pamphilus, Philo, an amalgamation, and as none of them. The most popular view, though not without dissent, construes Hume as Philo.

What kind of religion does Cleanthes believe in?

Cleanthes is an “experimental theist”—”an exponent of orthodox empiricism” —who bases his beliefs about God’s existence and nature upon a version of the teleological argument, which uses evidence of design in the universe to argue for God’s existence and resemblance to the human mind.

When did Cleanthes become head of the school?

Originally a boxer, he came to Athens where he took up philosophy, listening to Zeno’s lectures. He supported himself by working as a water-carrier at night. After the death of Zeno, c. 262 BC, he became the head of the school, a post he held for the next 32 years.