Hume's Philosophy of Religion (Historical and Methodological Origions)

Hume's study in the realm of philosophy of religion was motivated after he had carefully verified the truth of the religious beliefs and examined the causes of such a phenomenon as religion in history and various societes. In his studies of religion, Hume often applied the same method which was termed ``experimental reasoning'' or ``causal inference'' by him. His application of this method was due to the fact that he was an empiricist, holding that our judgments on all things around, including what constitutes religion like belief in the existence of God or the occurrence of miracles, are acceptable on the condition that they are proved by casual inference. The issues examined by Hume in philosophy of religion were influenced by this methodological approach on the one hand, and were slected under certain historical condition of his time on the other. For, in his time, scholars and men of science were mainly interested in ``the argument from miracles'' and so on. Accordingly, these issues were given priority in the realm of his studies in philosophy of religion.