{"id":338,"date":"2006-11-14T10:40:55","date_gmt":"2006-11-14T10:40:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/?p=338"},"modified":"2021-01-03T19:30:08","modified_gmt":"2021-01-03T19:30:08","slug":"hume-and-the-argument-from-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\/","title":{"rendered":"Hume and the Argument from Design"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>David Hume (1711-1776) was a Scots philosopher who developed empiricism in opposition to the continental Rationalism.\u00a0 More than any other thinker of his time, perhaps with the exception of Immanuel Kant, he deconstructed the philosophical understanding of reason that provided the rational basis of the classical conceptions of philosophy and theology.\u00a0 One of his most famous quotes in one of his fictional dialogs (his work was so &#8220;heretical&#8221; that he frequently used narrative to express his ideas to prevent censure) was that <em>&#8220;reason marshals invincible arguments against itself&#8221;<\/em>.\u00a0 Hume&#8217;s scepticism about reason was such that Bertrand Russell in commenting on it said that for Hume, <em>&#8220;there was no logical difference between sanity and insanity&#8221; <\/em>and that the Humean sceptic would <em>&#8220;still eat if they got hungry&#8221; <\/em>even though their scepticism tells them they have no reason to.\u00a0 Russell considered Hume as illustrating the bankruptcy of 18th century reasoning but many empiricists, pragmatists and positivists consider his arguments compelling, and his refutation of the argument from design has formed the basis of refutations of theism by some non-positivist, modern atheist philosophers such as Mackie and Flew (though Flew in 2006 became convinced there was compelling evidence for theism).<\/p>\n<p>This short 1000 word essay deals well with his argument against the order observed in the universe as implying it requires a designer (God), a PDF is found <a href=\"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/Documents\/Content\/Hume-on-design.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>David Hume (1711-1776) was a Scots philosopher who developed empiricism in opposition to the continental Rationalism.\u00a0 More than any other thinker of his time, perhaps with the exception of Immanuel Kant, he deconstructed the philosophical understanding of reason that provided the rational basis of the classical conceptions of philosophy and theology.\u00a0 One of his most [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,13,33],"tags":[169,176,168],"class_list":["post-338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-philosophy","category-philosophy-of-religion","category-theology","tag-hume","tag-humean-scepticism","tag-kant"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\r\n<title>Hume and the Argument from Design - Planet M Blog<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Hume and the Argument from Design - Hume&#039;s refutation of the argument from design was extremely influential even today.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hume and the Argument from Design - Planet M Blog\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hume and the Argument from Design - Hume&#039;s refutation of the argument from design was extremely influential even today.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Planet M Blog\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-11-14T10:40:55+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-01-03T19:30:08+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/11\/Hume.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael Macneil\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michael Macneil\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/planetmacneil.org\\\/blog\\\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/planetmacneil.org\\\/blog\\\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Michael Macneil\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/planetmacneil.org\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/78d80b09bb7f5dca3e2779fb6a2c2d33\"},\"headline\":\"Hume and the Argument from Design\",\"datePublished\":\"2006-11-14T10:40:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-03T19:30:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/planetmacneil.org\\\/blog\\\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":232,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/planetmacneil.org\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/78d80b09bb7f5dca3e2779fb6a2c2d33\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/planetmacneil.org\\\/blog\\\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/planetmacneil.org\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2006\\\/11\\\/Hume.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Hume\",\"Humean Scepticism\",\"Kant\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Philosophy\",\"Philosophy of Religion\",\"Theology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/planetmacneil.org\\\/blog\\\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/planetmacneil.org\\\/blog\\\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/planetmacneil.org\\\/blog\\\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\\\/\",\"name\":\"Hume and the Argument from Design - Planet M Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/planetmacneil.org\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/planetmacneil.org\\\/blog\\\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/planetmacneil.org\\\/blog\\\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/planetmacneil.org\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2006\\\/11\\\/Hume.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2006-11-14T10:40:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-03T19:30:08+00:00\",\"description\":\"Hume and the Argument from Design - Hume's refutation of the argument from design was extremely influential even today.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/planetmacneil.org\\\/blog\\\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/planetmacneil.org\\\/blog\\\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/planetmacneil.org\\\/blog\\\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/planetmacneil.org\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2006\\\/11\\\/Hume.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/planetmacneil.org\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2006\\\/11\\\/Hume.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":768,\"caption\":\"Hume's refutation of the argument from design\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/planetmacneil.org\\\/blog\\\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/planetmacneil.org\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Hume and the Argument from Design\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/planetmacneil.org\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/planetmacneil.org\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Planet Macneil Blog\",\"description\":\"The blog of Dr Michael P\u00f2l Macneil PhD\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/planetmacneil.org\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/78d80b09bb7f5dca3e2779fb6a2c2d33\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/planetmacneil.org\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/planetmacneil.org\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/78d80b09bb7f5dca3e2779fb6a2c2d33\",\"name\":\"Michael Macneil\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8c23bafa3d0e8438466d9d51dd2b843fab8754f428006edc6c50c8d9b66d9fa1?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8c23bafa3d0e8438466d9d51dd2b843fab8754f428006edc6c50c8d9b66d9fa1?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8c23bafa3d0e8438466d9d51dd2b843fab8754f428006edc6c50c8d9b66d9fa1?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Michael Macneil\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8c23bafa3d0e8438466d9d51dd2b843fab8754f428006edc6c50c8d9b66d9fa1?s=96&r=g\"},\"description\":\"I write software and am studying part-time for a PhD in philosophy. I have an MSc in Electronic Engineering and an MA in Studies in Philosophy and Religion. I am a Microsoft Certified Professional with an MCSD. I have a teaching qualification in Physics and like most things science. Otherwise I like classic VWs, watching Rodney Howard-Browne, playing guitar and making computer music.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/planetmacneil.org\\\/blog\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/planetmacneil.org\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/mmacneill123\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hume and the Argument from Design - Planet M Blog","description":"Hume and the Argument from Design - Hume's refutation of the argument from design was extremely influential even today.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hume and the Argument from Design - Planet M Blog","og_description":"Hume and the Argument from Design - Hume's refutation of the argument from design was extremely influential even today.","og_url":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\/","og_site_name":"Planet M Blog","article_published_time":"2006-11-14T10:40:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-01-03T19:30:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/11\/Hume.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Michael Macneil","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Michael Macneil","Estimated reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\/"},"author":{"name":"Michael Macneil","@id":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/78d80b09bb7f5dca3e2779fb6a2c2d33"},"headline":"Hume and the Argument from Design","datePublished":"2006-11-14T10:40:55+00:00","dateModified":"2021-01-03T19:30:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\/"},"wordCount":232,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/78d80b09bb7f5dca3e2779fb6a2c2d33"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/11\/Hume.jpg","keywords":["Hume","Humean Scepticism","Kant"],"articleSection":["Philosophy","Philosophy of Religion","Theology"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\/","url":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\/","name":"Hume and the Argument from Design - Planet M Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/11\/Hume.jpg","datePublished":"2006-11-14T10:40:55+00:00","dateModified":"2021-01-03T19:30:08+00:00","description":"Hume and the Argument from Design - Hume's refutation of the argument from design was extremely influential even today.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/11\/Hume.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/11\/Hume.jpg","width":1024,"height":768,"caption":"Hume's refutation of the argument from design"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/hume-and-the-argument-from-design\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hume and the Argument from Design"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/","name":"Planet Macneil Blog","description":"The blog of Dr Michael P\u00f2l Macneil PhD","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/78d80b09bb7f5dca3e2779fb6a2c2d33"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/78d80b09bb7f5dca3e2779fb6a2c2d33","name":"Michael Macneil","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c23bafa3d0e8438466d9d51dd2b843fab8754f428006edc6c50c8d9b66d9fa1?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c23bafa3d0e8438466d9d51dd2b843fab8754f428006edc6c50c8d9b66d9fa1?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c23bafa3d0e8438466d9d51dd2b843fab8754f428006edc6c50c8d9b66d9fa1?s=96&r=g","caption":"Michael Macneil"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c23bafa3d0e8438466d9d51dd2b843fab8754f428006edc6c50c8d9b66d9fa1?s=96&r=g"},"description":"I write software and am studying part-time for a PhD in philosophy. I have an MSc in Electronic Engineering and an MA in Studies in Philosophy and Religion. I am a Microsoft Certified Professional with an MCSD. I have a teaching qualification in Physics and like most things science. Otherwise I like classic VWs, watching Rodney Howard-Browne, playing guitar and making computer music.","sameAs":["https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog"],"url":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/author\/mmacneill123\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}