David Hume is one of the most provocative philosophers to have written in the English language. His skeptical
accounts of the causes and consequences of religious belief are expressed most powerfully in "The Dialogues
Concerning Natural Religion" and "The Natural History of Religion." "The Dialogues" ask
if belief in God can be inferred from the nature of the universe or whether it is even consistent with what we
know about the universe. "The Natural History of Religion" investigates the origins of belief, and follows
its development from harmless polytheism to dogmatic monotheism. Together they constitute a most formidable attack
upon the rationality of religious belief.
Table of Contents
A Note on the Texts
Select Bibliography
Chronology
My Own Life
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section XI
A Letter Concerning the Dialogues, 10 March 1751
Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
An Abstract of the Dialogues
The Natural History of Religion
Hume's Notes to The Natural History
An Abstract of The Natural History
Explanatory Notes
Descriptive Index of Classical Names in Hume's Texts