Compare and contrast the contributions of Hume and Descartes
Compare and contrast the contributions of Hume and Descartes to the issue of the existence of God. Hume's writings on the existence of God are contrary to Descartes. Descartes tries to prove God's existence while Hume tries to show the irrationality of believing in God. However, both philosophers fail to solve the issue as they both hold unsound arguments. The major difference between the two is their conflicting methods on how the issue should be approached. David Hume was an empiricist. This means that he believes all knowledge must come from experience, as there is no innate knowledge within the mind. A newborn baby is like a blank slate as they have absolutely no knowledge whatsoever as they are yet to experience some. This means that if the existence of God were to be proved, it would require someone to experience or infer his existence from experience in some way, as reason alone is insufficient to prove his existence. On the contrary, Rene Descartes was a rationalist. This is the opposite of empiricism as this theory claims that some knowledge can be known a priori, independently of experience. This means that if God were to be proved then experience would not necessarily be needed as some truths ca
omnipotent, omniscient, totally good and just etc. I have an idea of God, existence is part of perfection, therefore the idea of God is an idea of an existing God. Three possibilities he suggests are himself, his parents, and a being lesser than God. On the contrary to this; Hume's theory of meaning says that to get an idea we must first receive the perception, as all ideas are copies of our perceptions. This is a mistake that destroys Descartes' overall argument. Descartes' suggested foundation was "cogito ergo sum"; I think therefore I am. Hume objects to Descartes method on proving the existence of God by proposing the "fork". This argument is impressive but open to objections. Hume has answered Descartes' arguments for the existence of God and now endeavours to defeat other proposed arguments for his existence. All this suggests a creator who has made it deliberately this way with conscious forethought. the cliff from which the stone was chipped off. He is now able to defeat scepticism by saying that since God is infinitely good etc; therefore God would not lie to him about what he perceives clearly and distinctly.
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