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Single Idea 6960

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

Full Idea

Since the effects resemble, we must infer by analogy that the causes also resemble; and that the Author of Nature is somewhat similar to the mind of man, though possessed of much larger faculties, proportioned to the grandeur of his work.

Gist of Idea

Analogy suggests that God has a very great human mind

Source

David Hume (Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion [1751], Part 2)

Book Ref

Hume,David: 'Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion' [Penguin], p.54

The 25 ideas from 'Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion'

6957 The objects of theological reasoning are too big for our minds [Hume]
6960 Analogy suggests that God has a very great human mind [Hume]
6958 How can we pronounce on a whole after a brief look at a very small part? [Hume]
6961 An analogy begins to break down as soon as the two cases differ [Hume]
6959 We can't assume God's perfections are like our ideas or like human attributes [Hume]
6962 The thing which contains order must be God, so see God where you see order [Hume]
21279 If the divine cause is proportional to its effects, the effects are finite, so the Deity cannot be infinite [Hume]
21282 Design cannot prove a unified Deity. Many men make a city, so why not many gods for a world? [Hume]
21280 From a ship you would judge its creator a genius, not a mere humble workman [Hume]
6963 Why would we infer an infinite creator from a finite creation? [Hume]
6965 The universe may be the result of trial-and-error [Hume]
6964 From our limited view, we cannot tell if the universe is faulty [Hume]
21281 This excellent world may be the result of a huge sequence of trial-and-error [Hume]
21283 Humans renew their species sexually. If there are many gods, would they not do the same? [Hume]
21284 This Creator god might be an infant or incompetent or senile [Hume]
6967 Order may come from an irrational source as well as a rational one [Hume]
6966 Creation is more like vegetation than human art, so it won't come from reason [Hume]
21286 Motion often begins in matter, with no sign of a controlling agent [Hume]
21287 The universe could settle into superficial order, without a designer [Hume]
21288 Ideas arise from objects, not vice versa; ideas only influence matter if they are linked [Hume]
21285 Events are baffling before experience, and obvious after experience [Hume]
21254 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]
1435 If something must be necessary so that something exists rather than nothing, why can't the universe be necessary? [Hume]
21256 A surprise feature of all products of 9 looks like design, but is actually a necessity [Hume]
21255 No being's non-existence can imply a contradiction, so its existence cannot be proved a priori [Hume]