Hume’s Fideism; Towards His Mysticism

نوع مقاله : مقاله علمی پژوهشی

نویسندگان

1 Ph.D. in Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, College of Theology, Farabi Campus, University of Tehran and Lecturer at Azad University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, College of Theology, Farabi Campus, University of Tehran, Qom, Iran

چکیده

Contrary to what has been stated in most accounts that Hume intends to make arguments against the existence of God, he aims to attack the claim that religious propositions can be argued; not completely reject these propositions. He considers these propositions epistemologically outside of human knowledge but ontologically accepts the existence of God. With such a view, we can dismiss atheistic-agnostic interpretations and relate him to a kind of mysticism. The key to deciding whether or not Hume is a mystic is to determine what criteria we have to consider someone a mystic. Two very influential components here are (1)the belief in the existence of God;  (2) the belief that the existence of God is far from our usual reasoning (antirational or irrational).And the second component is enough to call someone like Wittgenstein a fideist. We claim that there is clear evidence of these components in Hume’s works; therefore, what reason do we have to remove Hume from the circle of fideism and mysticism? In this study, after an introduction to the concept and types of fideism, we show that Hume, based on his works, surpasses skepticism and manifests a special kind of fideism.While there is an emphasis on the mystery of the proposition that God exists, he combines Christian faith, in aform that is inseparable from illogical and mysterious propositions such as the incarnation of God. Thus, Hume can be called a Christian mystic.

کلیدواژه‌ها

موضوعات

عنوان مقاله [English]

Hume’s Fideism; Towards His Mysticism

نویسندگان [English]

  • Siamak Abdollahi 1
  • Mansour Nasiri 2
1 Ph.D. in Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, College of Theology, Farabi Campus, University of Tehran and Lecturer at Azad University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
2 Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, College of Theology, Farabi Campus, University of Tehran, Qom, Iran
چکیده [English]

Contrary to what has been stated in most accounts that Hume intends to make arguments against the existence of God, he aims to attack the claim that religious propositions can be argued; not completely reject these propositions. He considers these propositions epistemologically outside of human knowledge but ontologically accepts the existence of God. With such a view, we can dismiss atheistic-agnostic interpretations and relate him to a kind of mysticism. The key to deciding whether or not Hume is a mystic is to determine what criteria we have to consider someone a mystic. Two very influential components here are (1)the belief in the existence of God;  (2) the belief that the existence of God is far from our usual reasoning (antirational or irrational).And the second component is enough to call someone like Wittgenstein a fideist. We claim that there is clear evidence of these components in Hume’s works; therefore, what reason do we have to remove Hume from the circle of fideism and mysticism? In this study, after an introduction to the concept and types of fideism, we show that Hume, based on his works, surpasses skepticism and manifests a special kind of fideism.While there is an emphasis on the mystery of the proposition that God exists, he combines Christian faith, in aform that is inseparable from illogical and mysterious propositions such as the incarnation of God. Thus, Hume can be called a Christian mystic.

کلیدواژه‌ها [English]

  • Hume
  • fideism
  • antirationalism and irrationalism
  • mysticism
  • natural theology
  • argument

مراجع

Abdollahi, S. (2011). Influence of Hume’s epistemology on his philosophy of religion. Mofid University, Iran, Master’s thesis under the supervision of M. Legenhausen, and AmirDivani. [In Persian]
Abdollahi, S. (2018). Hume’s mystical fideism: An alternative reading of his view on the problem of evil. Philosophy of Religion Research, 15(2), 109-121. https://doi.org/10.30497/prr.2018.2117. [In Persian]
Amesbury, R. (2017). Fideism. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.). The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (Fall 2017 Edition).          
URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2017/entries/fideism/>.
URL = <https://www.britannica.com/topic/fideism>, Jul 20, 1998.
Hansen, D. J. (1993). Fideism and Hume's Philosophy. Peter Lang.
Alston, W. P. (1992). Knowledge of God. In M. Hester (Ed.), Faith, reason, and skepticism. Temple University Press.
Coleman, D. (2007). David Hume: Dialogues concerning natural religion and other writings. Cambridge University Press.
Drury, M. (1984). Some notes on conversations with Wittgenstein. In R. Rhees (Ed.), Recollections of Wittgenstein. Oxford University Press.
Gaskin, J. C. A. (1988). Hume’s philosophy of religion. Macmillan Press.
Gilson, E. (1969). L’Esprit de la philosophie médiévale, Gifford Lectures (Université Aberdeen). Vrin.
Harris, J. A. (2005). Hume’s use of the rhetoric of Calvinism. In M. Frasca Spada & P. J. E. Kail (Ed.), Impressions of Hume. Clarendon Press.
Hester, M. (1992). Faith, reason, and skepticism. Temple University.
Holland R.F. (1965). The miraculous. American Philosophical Quarterly, 2(1), 43-51.
Holy Bible, Douay-Rheims Version, Translated from the Latin Vulgate, 1582/1609, by Cardinal Archbishop of Winchester (Preface), Richard Challoner (Author), Catholic Truth Society; 2nd printing, edition (January 1, 1956), Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible Online, Search Study Verses. (drbo.org).
Holy Quran, Translated from Arabic by Talal Itani, Published by ClearQuran, Dallas, Beirut. URL = <http://www.clearquran.com/>.
Hume, D. (1739). A treatise of human nature. Reprinted from the Original Edition in three volumes and edited, with an analytical index, by L.A. Selby- Bigge (1896). Clarendon Press.
Hume, D. (1783). Essays on suicide and the immortality of the soul. 
URL = <http://www.abika.com>.
Hume, D. (2007a). An enquiry concerning human understanding. (P. Millican, Ed.). Oxford University Press.
Hume, D. (2007b). Of the immortality of the soul. In P. Millican (Ed.), An enquiry concerning human understanding. Oxford University Press.
Hume, D. (2007c). Dialogues concerning natural religion. (D. Coleman, Ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Hume, D. (2007d). Fragment on evil. In D. Coleman (Ed.), Dialogues concerning natural religion. Cambridge University Press.
Hume, D. (2007e). Letter from a Gentleman. In D. F. Norton & M. J. Norton (Eds.). Treatise. Oxford University Press.
Hume, D. (2011). The natural history of religion, with an Introduction by John M. Robertson. A. and H. Bradlaugh Bonner,  
URL = <http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/340>, (generated September 2011).
Konyndyk, K. (1987). Terence Penelhum, God and Skepticism. In Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers, 4(2),
207-212. https://doi.org/10.5840/faithphil19874224.          
URL = <https://place.asburyseminary.edu/faithandphilosophy/vol4/iss2/9>.
Locke, J. (2010). A letter concerning toleration; and other writings. (M. Goldie, Ed. & Intro). Liberty fund.
Millican, P. (2007). An introductiontoan enquiry concerning human understanding. Oxford University Press.
Noxon, J. (1995). Hume’s concern with religion. In S. Tweyman (Ed.), David Hume Critical Assessments, vol. 5, (Religion). Routledge.
O, Connor, D. (2001). Routledge philosophy guidebook to Hume on religion. Routledge.
Penelhum, T. (1983). God and skepticism; A study in skepticism and fideism.
D. Reidel Publishing Company.
Penelhum, T. (1992). Parity is not enough. In M. Hester (Ed.), Faith, reason and skepticism. Temple University.
Popkin, R. H. (1967). Fideism. In D. M. Borchert (Ed.), The encyclopedia of philosophy, 2nd ed. (2006), vol. 3. Thomson Gale.
Robertson J. M. (2011). An introduction to the natural history of religion. A.
and H. Bradlaugh Bonner. URL = <http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/340>, (generated September 2011).
Russell, B. (1931). The scientific outlook . Capra Press.
Slupik, Ch. (1995). A new interpretation of Hume’s ‘Of miracles.’Religious Studies, 31(4), 517-536. https://doi.org/10.1017/S003441250002391X,
Taleb, N. N. (2007). The black swan: The impact of the highly improbable. Random House.
Waxman, W. (2006). David Hume. In D. M. Borchert (Ed.), Theencyclopedia of philosophy, 2nded. (2006), vol. 4. Thomson Gale.
ارسال نظر در مورد این مقاله
CAPTCHA Image
پژوهش‌های فلسفی -کلامی
دوره 25، شماره 1
فروردین 1402
صفحه 29-52

فایل ها

هم رسانی

ارجاع به این مقاله

آمار