A Humean religiosity

Ondertitel:on the pleasure of beautiful wholes and the value of uncertainty

In this dissertation I investigate David Hume’s philosophy of religion, guided by the idea that human nature, in Hume’s frame of thought, originates in the activity of connecting. This activity enables us to have beliefs, make plans, in short, to transcend the bare ‘given’. It is not only necessary, but also very pleasant, with the result that the mind is continuously tempted to create bigger wholes and connections, often without sufficient empirical grounds. The pleasure of the connecting activity is ambiguous: on the one hand, the experience of a beautiful whole is satisfying, on the other hand, the activity itself, the striving, is also a source of pleasure, and the experience of the new or unknown is indispensable for happiness. In the relation to others, we see something similar. The resemblance between two persons automatically creates a connection. However, this is not necessarily a harmonious one. It is precisely the other’s resemblance to oneself that makes it painful when their opinions differ from one’s own. It is through the combination of familiarity and difference that other people leave such a great emotional impression. Here, too, it is crucial that openness for the other, for otherness, is safeguarded. In Hume’s descriptions of religion this connecting activity plays a crucial role. Hume recognizes the human desire to alleviate the existential uncertainty that underlies all kinds of religion. But the many problems which religion brings along, such as dogmatism or intolerance, are due to the fact that in this striving it creates a complete, closed whole, stifling that connecting activity which is so fundamental. The openness for novelty, otherness, the other are lost, and with them a part of the essence of human nature. Hume’s oeuvre, in contrast, propagates the value of uncertainty, and respect for the unknown. By, on the one hand, removing traditional forms of religion and their too rigid interpretations of the divine from their pedestal and, on the other, bringing that connecting tendency, which almost automatically leads to religious sentiments, to the fore and making it so central to his conception of human nature, Hume (unintentionally) points the way to a form of religiosity understood as an acceptance of and respect for the mystery of existence, in which one can openly and creatively give shape to this relation.

Jaar van publicatie:2023

Trefwoorden:Doctoral thesis

Toegankelijkheid:Embargoed