Cleanthes Vs Demea Essay

Improved Essays
Philosophy Final Paper
In this paper, I will argue that Philo offers better arguments for explanation of God’s existence than Demea and Cleanthes. During Hume’s days, the 1700s, science was not very advance and many philosophical arguments were based off of empirical observations. This paper contains information regarding how the argument between the three panned out and contains my thoughts on the conversation. While I do not have all the answers on these matters, I will provide my views and arguments in hopes of presenting a different perspective.
In Hume’s writing, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, he writes about an imaginary conversation between three people Demea, Cleanthes, and Philo. Demea is very orthodox and believes in God but is skeptical about investigations. He believes that God is a perfect being but other than that, humans know nothing else; to imagine anything else is heresy. Demas thinks that with limited human knowledge, one can only make weak arguments about God and these arguments may lead to false ideas and even skepticism. He questions science and philosophy but believes in theology. Unlike Demea, Cleanthes believes in theology on top of believing in science and philosophy. Cleanthes is a pragmatic skeptic who believes in experimenting and investigating till an answer is discovered. He acknowledges that humans have limited knowledge yet he believes that this and skepticism is not enough to test our beliefs and thus not be a serious issue. Like Cleanthes and Demea, Philo also believes in God and offers his own arguments. Philo offers skepticism towards both Demea’s and Cleanthes’ arguments though he agrees with Demea in that God is incomprehensible. He Is the biggest skeptic of the three. He believes that God does exist but he may have not created the world. In the dialogues, Cleanthes key argument is that like cause produce like effects and thus only God, the perfect being, could have created the beautiful universe with all its art, order, good, beauty, etc. Philo criticizes Cleanthes’ a posteriori analogy in saying that his analogy is way too broad; it is very difficult to determine the cause for one event and to contribute one cause to the entire universe is baseless. I agree with Philo is saying that, jumping to the conclusion of God creating the universe because of like causes, is preposterous. Going off of Cleanthes’ argument of like causes producing like effects, many other things could have contributed to the creation of the universe. Simple things like plants and animal evolving can contribute to the universe’s design and plus, Cleanthes has limited knowledge of the universe and thus how can he conclude that the entire universe is God’s creation when he has only seen part of it? After arguing against Cleanthes proposition, Philo continues on and introduces the old Epicurean hypothesis.
…show more content…
This says that every effect from the universe results from chance events. If we believe that matter is finite, like contemporary physics, and that God is infinite, Philo concludes that there has to be infinite parallel universes with infinite differences. This idea scares both Cleanthes and Demea.
Demea offers his own input on Philo’s theory of matter motion in that it would require something to start it and thus only God could have done this. Philo responds by saying that just because there is a wonderful system of matter, does not mean that an intelligent being had to have put it into effect. Matter could have easily begun within itself. Following this, Philo switches to examining God nature. After arguing about God’s natural attributes, Philo beings to examine the idea of God’s moral attributes like his benevolence and omnipotence. Philo proceeds to explain the four evils of the world which could not have be things created by a benevolent being like God. The first evil is pain. Why is pain so much worse than pleasure and in general, humans and animals can operate without having to endure pain. The second evil is that the world is constrained by general laws. Why does God not circumvent the general laws to promote the good and resolve bad outcomes? The third evil is that humans and animals have very limited power and God could have increased the faculties

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    David Hume’s On Miracles portrays his belief that individuals should develop reason beyond the scope of the church. As a brilliant philosopher, Hume argues against the common…

    • 850 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    When I first started reading the dialogues, I sided with Hylas’ views on skepticism and how matter existed without any minds to perceive them. It should be common sense that physical objects existed, right? As the philosophical battle of wits continued on, I had to concede to the fact that Philonous has convinced me that while objects of the world existed, the reality I live in only exists in my mind. Philonous argues that our views on matter in the world only existed because of our senses. Since everyone’s and everything’s senses are different and are subject to change, the properties of the objects in the world are only as real as we perceive them to be.…

    • 330 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    Explain and discuss Hume’s account of causation. David Hume introduces and discusses his widely-debated theories and ideas surrounding human belief and knowledge in the two texts A Treatise of Human Nature and An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. Using these two texts as the primary focus this essay shall critically explain and discuss Hume’s account of causation. Firstly, Hume’s concepts and theories surrounding human knowledge and belief will be critically discussed, focusing firstly, on the category Relations of Ideas and secondly, on the category Matters of Fact.…

    • 2001 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Hume is a philosopher who is skeptical of miracles in any form. The first argument behind Hume’s skepticism is surrounded by the idea of a priori. A priori is having knowledge or a belief based on one’s thought alone, independent from experience. This is simply believing what you have heard from a separate source, or one’s own hypothesis, without proof.…

    • 1950 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion” is a philosophical work written by David Hume. In this book, he proceeds to consult and provide arguments in favor of God’s existence. All of his arguments are supported with premises spoken through the philosophers in his book (this esay on Cleanthes’s argument). In his argument, Cleanthes clams that the universe is a complex machine which has a plethora of ‘natural’ machines. These machines, both human and natural, all have a mans of working towards a common end.…

    • 1772 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The evidential problem of evil determines the degree of how much evil must be a part of the evidence of God’s existence. While on the other hand the logical problem of evil is seen through our own eyes. It bares the question whether God is a perfect because of all wrong taking place in the world. Through these two problems it is hard to even imagine that God is perfect. Through Richard Swinburne’s theodicy (theodicy - an attempt to defend God's omnibenevolence in the face of evil) , one comes to find the case that initially escapes the evidential and logical problems…

    • 1073 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    John Henry Cardinal Newman offers a powerful proof for God’s existence. He recognizes the difference between notional assent and real assent, which are the two major ways for the development of his argument from conscience. The notional assent for the study of religion and the real assent for the belief in religion. Hence, Newman’s argument from conscience is the most compelling proof for God’s existence. The reason is because his argument has there main developments which are orderly, logical, and convincing.…

    • 1019 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In his argument, Cleanthes refers to a whole library written in a universal language present to us in nature (D3.2). Thus, he illustrates the fact that humans have an abundance of available information, and we must make an effort to uncover it to even come close to becoming a believer. Through this rationalization, if one ever attempted to deny God, it may be inferred that they are either ignorant or even lazy, because of their inability to comprehend the proof at…

    • 1357 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In this paper I will dispute that Anselm’s ontological argument is dependent on Anselm’s personal faith in God. My argument lies within the premises that Anselm offers, it would not be rationally acceptable to create content of a maximally perfect being unless the person already accepted the Christian faith. The premises for Anselm’s argument can only be held if the only conception of non greater (relative to his attributes and worldly design) is God but if one does not follow such religious paths how can it be god. So in a sense god wouldn’t exists since you can’t have a mere conception of god without prior experience or impression of him. I will engage this scope of criticism by touching on Humean concepts and conveying how Anselm faith structured…

    • 442 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In this paper, I will demonstrate why David Hume believes a wise person should believe in the uniformity of nature and not believe in miracles. First, I will lay out and restate Hume’s argument for the belief or disbelief for both the uniformity of nature and for miracles. Next, I will assess the similarities between the two arguments he addresses, and subsequently comment on the differences between the two beliefs, clarifying Hume’s argument. Finally, I will give reasons why I believe Hume is correct.…

    • 403 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sheyla Vera Phil 106 Fall 2015 Descartes vs Hume Even though all philosophers claim to have different set of ideas and theories they all basically begin questioning the same thing. From one’s existence, gods existence, and the existence of the soul apart from the body. They all, in some way or another, have argued whether or not another philosopher’s theories are valid or not. When this happens we, as the readers, see the flaws that the previous theory had and then the possible flaws another philosopher might make when argue on the validity of a theory. Hume and Descartes are two philosophers who have argued on how we have come to know what we claim is truth in reference to knowledge, amongst other ideas pertaining to the mind.…

    • 1195 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    David Hume was one of the most influential philosophers of his time and continues to be mentioned and studies to this day. Almost equally as impressive was the response that philosopher Immanuel Kant had to his Inquiry of Human Understanding. Kant attempted to respond to Hume’s ideas and in this essay, I will identify the Hume’s beliefs behind the concepts such as cause, and effect and I will later defend Kant’s response to Hume. He raises points that leave his reader with a deeper understanding of his concept and explicitly outlines his beliefs on the concepts that Hume covers in his Human Inquiry.…

    • 1421 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Beshoy Hanna The existence of God Essay 3 The existence of God has come into question since the beginning of time. Throughout history, philosophers have searched for an answer to creation. How did the earth appear?…

    • 710 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The existence of God is always important in the aspect of philosophy. St. Thomas Aquinas explains what he believes is the five reasons god exists. The five reasons he believes why God exist is the Argument from Motion, Efficient Causes, Possibility and Necessity, Gradation of Being, and Design. The definition of God means that which nothing greater can be meant. St. Aquinas is a known philosopher for his discussions of the relationship between faith and the reasons, including the five reasons and proof why God existence is true, while developing Aristotelian doctrines within the church (PBF 42).…

    • 1606 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Does God Exist Essay

    • 998 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the vast study of philosophy, a particular question has baffled even the most intelligent minds. This question is, “Does God exist?” Philosophers have considered the answer to this question for centuries, each coming up with their own argument and reasons behind their thinking. A platform of debate often used is Antony Flew’s parable of the two explorers, who find a garden so beautiful, that one of the explorers is positive that there must be a gardener tending to it, even if he can’t be detected in any way. The other explorer is not so easily convinced that a gardener exists at all.…

    • 998 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays