Dialoge über natürliche Religion

Von David Hume

Die posthum 1779 erschienenen Dialoge über natürliche Religion sind das religionsphilosophische Hauptwerk David Humes. Nicht die Beweisbarkeit von Gottes Dasein sind ihr Thema, sondern die Frage, ob sich mittels der Vernunft etwas über Gottes Wesen aussagen lässt. Dieser Ansicht waren im 18. Jahrhundert die Deisten: Gestützt auf die Einsichten der modernen Naturwissenschaften – wie sie insbesondere in Newtons Werk greifbar waren – glaubten sie, Gottes Prädikate benennen zu können.

Hume zeigt in seinem dialogisch aufgebauten Werk die Unhaltbarkeit dieses Anspruchs der Physikotheologie. Weder die natürlichen noch die moralischen Eigenschaften der Gottheit können aus der Zweckmäßigkeit und Schönheit der Welt hergeleitet werden. Damit war der Deismus am Ende, und zugleich war damit das Projekt einer rationalen Theologie als unmöglich erwiesen. Eine eigene Lösung des religiösen Problems liefert Hume nicht, aber er deutet am Ende des Werks an, wo diese liegen könnte.

Humes Dialoge nehmen also kritisch Stellung zur Religion, indem sie vorgebliche Beweisansprüche destruieren. Sie tun dies auf eine konzise, nüchterne, an der Sache orientierte Art und Weise, die als vorbildlich gelten darf. Auch deshalb sind die Dialoge ein Klassiker der modernen Religionsphilosophie. Das Werk hat nichts von seiner Aktualität verloren und ist in den Debatten um das Gottesproblem bis in die unmittelbare Gegenwart hinein lebendig wie kaum ein zweites.

• Sprache: Deutsch
• Herausgeber: Felix Meiner Verlag
• Erscheinungsdatum: 8. Juli 2016
• ISBN: 9783787324583

David Hume

David Hume was an eighteenth-century Scottish philosopher, historian, and essayist, and the author of A Treatise of Human Nature, considered by many to be one of the most important philosophical works ever published. Hume attended the University of Edinburgh at an early age and considered a career in law before deciding that the pursuit of knowledge was his true calling. Hume’s writings on rationalism and empiricism, free will, determinism, and the existence of God would be enormously influential on contemporaries such as Adam Smith, as well as the philosophers like Schopenhauer, John Stuart Mill, and Karl Popper, who succeeded him. Hume died in 1776.

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[jefware · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

Absolutely a seminal work on the march from theology to science as the study of the ultimate nature of reality. I do not believe that Hume went so far to deny the existence of God. He did question the relevance of a beneficial omnipotent God, which ultimately lead to the New York Times exultation 'GOD IS DEAD!'

[devil_llama · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

Many of the arguments will be familiar to those who follow this topic. The arguments of Cleanthes and Demea form the base of what is currently referred to as "sophisticated theology", only more erudite and less hackneyed at that time (well, maybe not, since many of them had already been in use for a good chunk of the Christian Era). Many of the arguments Hume roundly defeats here are the same or similar arguments that are frequently presented today as "arguments no atheist has ever defeated". This is only true if you have never paid any attention to the answers the atheist gives, and Hume did a very good job, even without the benefit of some of the scientific knowledge, such as evolution and the age of the earth. The limits of the science of the time did lead to some stumbles, but it was hardly the fault of Hume if he was not up on 21st century science in the 18th century. A bit difficult for the beginning reader in philosophy, but worth the work.

[dcunning11235 · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

It was good to read this in it's (more or less original) prose, as Hume wrote it. A lot of very perceptive arguments; and the dialogue format serves well to couch Hume's views, forcing you to think for yourself a bit more, rather than just accept what you're reading as wisdom from an authority.

But... commas. The punctuation and write-style are dated and very difficult to read at times. A truly modern rendition of the text risks changing some meaning, but at the benefit of making the ideas so much more clear.

4 stars for the work, but 3 stars for the lack of clarity of reading in the (nearly) original.

[nbmars · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

David Hume (1711-1776) was one of the most influential writers of the Enlightenment.  In his An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748), he argued that there was insufficient evidence to believe in miracles or in providence.  Always interested in a rational approach to God and religion, he began the Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion in about 1750, but did not complete it until the last years of his life.  It was not published until 1779 (posthumously), and not under either the author’s or the publisher’s real name.Apparently, religious issues were very touchy subjects at the time, and so his disquisition takes the form of a dialogue in which the characters express opinions (some of which are very antithetical to established religion) without revealing the author’s personal beliefs.  One of the characters, Philo, a skeptic, pretty articulately demolishes the argument for God’s existence based on the apparent design of the universe.  He shows how the design of a complicated device like an ocean-going ship arises not from the acts of the individual workmen who build the ship, but rather from years of tinkering with previous designs.  From that analogy, he argues that it is just as plausible to infer that the universe was designed by many designers (gods, if you will) as it is to infer that there was a single all powerful designer, the Christian god.  In explaining that many causes could have contributed to the state of the universe, he anticipates, but does not quite articulate, the modern concept of emergence of complex order from simple phenomena.  Implicit in Philo’s argument is that our belief that there must be a cause for every effect or condition in the universe is an empirical observation, not a requirement of logic.  Although he does not explicitly state so in this book, Hume its known to have believed that the existence of the universe may not require or be subject to the same kind of cause we observe in changes in the various states of the universe.Philo also argues that the persistence of evil in the world militates against the existence of a God who is all-good and omnipotent.  The other two characters, Cleanthes and Demea, raise various arguments for belief, but are not as cogent as Philo.  Nonetheless, in the end, Philo seems to reverse course and asserts, “To be a philosophical skeptic is, in a man of letters, the first and most essential step towards being a sound, believing Christian.”  Holy Cow!!  I suppose one might guess that Hume was merely trying to avoid censure from religious authorities.  On the other hand, at least one commentator, Richard Popkin, a well known academic philosopher, opines that Hume may have been trying to be ironic, showing the reader how silly religious belief was.  Based on my other readings by and about Hume, I tend to think Popkin got it right.This book is an excellent and important element of the Western Canon of philosophy.  It is sometimes heavy going because 18th century diction tends to be ponderous to the modern reader.  Nonetheless, I think it is worth the struggle for anyone interested in the development of religious skepticism.(JAB)