Was Hume an atheist or an agnostic?

"There are two senses of agnosticism. One is a suspension of judgment which leaves the mind of the doubter as open to belief as to disbelief. This kind of agnostic is genuinely uncertain as to whether God exists or not, and is unable to say which possibility is significantly more likely. Neither Hume nor Russell were agnostics in this sense. For them, God was not something whose existence they continued to seriously entertain. However, they were agnostics in another sense: unable to conclusively settle the matter, God becomes a kind of irrelevant distant possibility, albeit one they would not say definitely did not exist."

Concluding part of series on Hume on Religion at Comment is Free Belief.

Religious belief and rational scrutiny

"In more sober Scots terms, Hume makes a similar case to the more passionate, romantic one put forward by Kierkegaard a century later, in which faith is seen as a leap beyond reason, undertaken in fear and trembling. To assert the primacy of faith over reason is not something to be done glibly to get over rational difficulties."

Response to comments to Hume on Belief series of blogs at Comment is Free Belief

The Radio Cafe - BBC Radio Scotland

Talking about atheism with Ray Tallis and Christopher Brookmeyre, hosted by Claire English. Recorded at the Aye Write! Glasgow Book festival. Listen again facility available here for one week.

Soul-searching

"In pulpits all around the country, terms like "soul" and "eternal salvation" are used in ways which are inevitably taken to refer to just the kind of notions that Hume briskly and decisively undermines. Humean doublespeak now has another form: it is the the intellectual clergy rather than atheist philosophers who are disguising the extent to which what they believe undermines traditional religion."

Part VII of my series Hume On Religion at Comment is Free Belief

The New Atheist Movement is destructive

"I am not happy about the public rhetoric of the new atheism, which has the most powerful effect on how people perceive people like me. Anyone committed to the proper use of reason and evidence should use both to see that this rhetoric matters, whether they like it or not, and modify their approach accordingly."

Unfortunate headline (not mine) to a more qualified critique of the New Atheism in Fritanke, the magazine of the Norwegian humanists. For this, I have been burned as a heretic by many of the commenters at richarddawkins.net, who call me variously a flea, a fool and a pompous air bag. And that's only reading down to comment 11 of 83 at the time of writing.

Unbelievable - Premier Christian radio

I was on this discussion programme as a foil for Nicholas Beale, who has co-written Questions of Truth with Christian physicist John Polkinghorne. The book answers questions people have about religion's relation to science. Broadcast on 14 March, you can download it as a podcast here.

Myerson's moral luck

Myerson herself could not have known whether the book would have succeeded sufficiently. Had it not been as good, the same reviewers may well have condemned her. Of course, the reviewers and commentators probably haven’t thought this luck element through fully, and many probably don’t realise that the logical conclusion of the vindication of Myerson on account of her book’s qualities is that they accept the reality of moral luck.

Latest post at Talking Philosophy.

True religion looks a lot like false

"No matter how intellectually respectable religion can be, as a matter of fact, most devotees end up believing intellectually disreputable versions."

Part VI of my Comment is Free series on Hume on Religion

Cruelty

"Why, Taylor asks, are violent scenes common in films and books, while other disgusting, but harmless acts, such as defecation, are not? The question isn’t rhetorical. The fact that we are almost all fascinated by cruelty – and even see it as entertaining at times – should worry us more than it does."

Review of Cruelty by Kathleen Taylor in this weekend's FT (16/17 March)

Off The Page - BBC Radio 4

Appeared on yesterday's programme talking about The Impostor Syndrome. To be broadcast again at 23:00 on 16 March. Listen again available here for a week.

Reason to be cautious

"Whereas science explains the observable by studying the actual behaviour of what is observed, natural religion explains the unobservable by analogy with what is observed."

Part V of my Comment is Free Series on Hume on Religion.(Published Monday)

The profits of usury have vanished

"It is self-serving moral myopia to regard the ordinary working person paying into a Post Office savings account as a different breed to other kinds of investors, when only the scale of their squirrelling differs."

Thunderer column in yesterday's Times.

Words by the Water, Keswick - 8 March

Talking about Complaint at the Cumbrian book festival. Full details here.

Ecobuild 2009, London - 4 March

Taking part in a discussion on "climate change / behavioural change" at 11.45, with Michael Portillo and George Marshall, chaired by Matthew Parris. Full details here.

Calm? Why should I be calm?

"Progress on social justice requires the evocation of anger and guilt even more than it does love and hope. Slavery was abolished because people were enraged by its injustice and prepared to make supporters of it feel very guilty indeed. Love of thy master and hope for a better future certainly didn't do it."

Article in today's Guardian (G2)

The limits of scepticism

"Atheist and agnostic physicists argue that to invoke God as the explanation for this is unscientific and ridiculous. But religious physicists respond by saying that the only alternative on the table, that there are an infinite number of universes, is no less preposterous, and no more consistent with the evidence. You can almost hear Cleanthes cry, 'Is not such an unequal conduct a plain proof of prejudice and passion?'"

Part IV of my Comment is Free series on Hume on Religion.

Aye Write, Glasgow - 7 March

Talking about Complaint at Glasgow's book festival at 16:30, and also on an atheism panel with Ray Tallis and Chris Brookmyre at 13:30, which is already sold out. Full details of festival are here.