or
January 27
or
January 27
Please read the following selections from David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779) [book available for purchase/on reserve]
and address the following questions in 3-5 well-written paragraphs. Since this is your first reading of this text, and since we have not yet discussed it fully in class, you needn't aim for definitive answers but preliminary, thoughtful responses based on close attention to the text. Be sure to substantiate your claims with detailed references to the text. Your answers may also include 1-2 important questions raised by your reading for further discussion.
Toward the end of Part X, Philo tells Cleanthes, "You have put the controversy upon a most dangerous issue, and are unawares introducing a total skepticism into the most essential articles of natural and revealed theology." Based on a close reading of the text, explain what Philo means here. What is "the controversy"? What is the "most dangerous issue" on which Cleanthes has allegedly hinged it? What is meant by "total skepticism" in this context?Please use parenthetical page references for your quotations and citations, and give a chapter/part number along with the page number if applicable, e.g. "X, 60" for Part X, page 66 of Hume's Dialogues.
Please type and double-space your answer, and number and staple the pages you hand in.
Please keep a copy of your quiz to refer to in our class discussions of Hume over the next couple of sessions.