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Single Idea 6964

[filed under theme 28. God / B. Proving God / 3. Proofs of Evidence / c. Teleological Proof critique ]

Full Idea

It is impossible for us to tell, from our limited views, whether this system contains any great faults.

Gist of Idea

From our limited view, we cannot tell if the universe is faulty

Source

David Hume (Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion [1751], Part 5)

Book Ref

Hume,David: 'Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion' [Penguin], p.77


The 25 ideas from 'Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion'

The objects of theological reasoning are too big for our minds [Hume]
How can we pronounce on a whole after a brief look at a very small part? [Hume]
An analogy begins to break down as soon as the two cases differ [Hume]
Analogy suggests that God has a very great human mind [Hume]
We can't assume God's perfections are like our ideas or like human attributes [Hume]
The thing which contains order must be God, so see God where you see order [Hume]
This Creator god might be an infant or incompetent or senile [Hume]
The universe may be the result of trial-and-error [Hume]
Why would we infer an infinite creator from a finite creation? [Hume]
From our limited view, we cannot tell if the universe is faulty [Hume]
If the divine cause is proportional to its effects, the effects are finite, so the Deity cannot be infinite [Hume]
Design cannot prove a unified Deity. Many men make a city, so why not many gods for a world? [Hume]
From a ship you would judge its creator a genius, not a mere humble workman [Hume]
This excellent world may be the result of a huge sequence of trial-and-error [Hume]
Humans renew their species sexually. If there are many gods, would they not do the same? [Hume]
Creation is more like vegetation than human art, so it won't come from reason [Hume]
Order may come from an irrational source as well as a rational one [Hume]
Events are baffling before experience, and obvious after experience [Hume]
Motion often begins in matter, with no sign of a controlling agent [Hume]
The universe could settle into superficial order, without a designer [Hume]
Ideas arise from objects, not vice versa; ideas only influence matter if they are linked [Hume]
A surprise feature of all products of 9 looks like design, but is actually a necessity [Hume]
No being's non-existence can imply a contradiction, so its existence cannot be proved a priori [Hume]
A chain of events requires a cause for the whole as well as the parts, yet the chain is just a sum of parts [Hume]
If something must be necessary so that something exists rather than nothing, why can't the universe be necessary? [Hume]