Posted by Paul Goodman on March 20, 19100 at 15:21:08:

In Reply to: HUME'S PROOF ON GOD posted by murali krishnan on March 09, 19100 at 23:55:17:

Basically Hume takes a two-pronged approach.
Every time you ert something, like "there is a god" he destroys your ertion from the foundation. That tactic alone could lead us back to the ancient attitude that we can only say what God isn't and can never talk positively about God. We can only say "he is not x... he is not y".

The second prong is to develop the Science of Man. He asks "how does man think?" Like you might ask how did this computer works. In terms of religion, Hume ascribes religion to a psychological device that even if it had a use in some far ago time, it now is useless and is actually harmful, kind of like an appendix: it might burst causing infection and time will eventually be weeded out.

Hume didn't invent this attitude, and perhaps Freud and psychodynamics gives a better explanation of the origin and persistance of belief in God, especially amongst the lower orders.

Infant mammals are often dependant on their parents in their early years, so the ones that can please their parents and also internalize (id est, learn) can outcompete their siblings and other animals. Basically, when our parents are found to be unable to take care of us (they die, or are incompetent), we can either grow up, or find a substitute, or go crazy with anxiety and fear. God becomes the ideal "father" which can never disappoint us (he only exists in our mind), never abandon us, and we can be children for ever and ever and never face the reality of death and the void. So a natural function becomes perverted in our social environment.

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: Basically Hume takes a two-pronged approach. : Every time you ert something, like "there is a god" he destroys your ertion from the foundation. That tactic alone could lead us back to the ancient attitude that we can only say what God isn't and can never talk positively about God. We can only say "he is not x... he is not y". : The second prong is to develop the Science of Man. He asks "how does man think?" Like you might ask how did this computer works. In terms of religion, Hume ascribes religion to a psychological device that even if it had a use in some far ago time, it now is useless and is actually harmful, kind of like an appendix: it might burst causing infection and time will eventually be weeded out. : Hume didn't invent this attitude, and perhaps Freud and psychodynamics gives a better explanation of the origin and persistance of belief in God, especially amongst the lower orders. : Infant mammals are often dependant on their parents in their early years, so the ones that can please their parents and also internalize (id est, learn) can outcompete their siblings and other animals. Basically, when our parents are found to be unable to take care of us (they die, or are incompetent), we can either grow up, or find a substitute, or go crazy with anxiety and fear. God becomes the ideal "father" which can never disappoint us (he only exists in our mind), never abandon us, and we can be children for ever and ever and never face the reality of death and the void. So a natural function becomes perverted in our social environment.

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