The Natural History of Religion

Description

This is the first essay in the 'Four Dissertations'; a collection of four essays by the Scottish enlightenment philosopher David Hume. In 'The Natural History of Religion', he pioneers a naturalist account of the causes, effects, and historical development of religious belief. He further argues that monotheism arises from competition between religions, as believers seek to distinguish their deities as superior to all rivals. The monotheist drive to dominate other beliefs, and to burnish the primitive, emotional core of religion under a veneer of theology, Hume concludes that this yields intolerance, intellectual dishonesty, and unnatural moral doctrines.

This book has 75 pages in the PDF version, and was originally published in 1757.

Production notes: This ebook of The Natural History of Religion was published by Global Grey in 2018.