Preface Abbreviations Introduction Part I: The Natural History of Religion 1. The Content of the Natural History Hume''s Theory of Religious Belief * Hume''s Apparent Approval of the Design Argument * The Secondary Status of the Propensities to Religious Belief * Hume on Religion and Morality * Religion and Human Nature * Part Twelve of the Dialogues * Verbal Dispute in Dialogue Twelve * Philo''s Confession of Faith 2. The Treatise Repetition of the Natural History Pattern of Explanation The Skeptical Prologue * Belief in an External World: Humean Constancy * Belief in an Enduring Self * Principles of Association as Propensities, Causality Included * The Treatise Explanations and the Natural History Explanation * Conflict Concerning the External World * Conflict Concerning Enduring Numerically Identical Selves 3. Religious Belief as a Danger to Human Nature A Further Similarity * Natural Beliefs * Basic Propensities * Religion and Human Nature Again * Human Nature * Hume and Calvin on Human Nature * The Rights of Reason and the Rights of Religion 4. Hume''s Account of Persons as Propensity Bearers Two Models of Human Nature * The Appendix Summary * The Soul or Person * Meaning * Do Simple Perceptions Endure? * Substances * Identity * Time * A Brief Look Backward * An Example of the ''Real Connections Among Perceptions'' View * Self-Awareness * Observability and Transparency * Foundationalism * Certainty and Personal Identity * Transparency and Real Connections * Why We Believe in Personal Identity * Memory and Personal Identity * Agency and Morality * Summary of the ''Real Connection'' Line of Reasoning * Conclusion 5. Hume''s Explanation of Religious Belief A Brief Review * The Elements of Hume''s Explanation * A Critique of Hume''s Strategy * The Critique Assessed * Religious Experience and Hume''s Explanation * Elements of an Argument from Religious Experience * A Principle of Experiential Evidence * Social Science Explanations and the Argument from Religious Experience Part II: Hume''s Discussion of Natural Theology 6. Hume''s Evidentialism Hume and Radical Religious Evidentialism * Bishop Butler on Probable Evidence 7. Hume''s Theory of Meaning Incomprehensibility * An Introduction to Ineffability * Ineffability: Another Look * Divine Incomprehensibility and Negative Theology * Meaning, Verification, and the Designer Hypothesis * Incomprehensibility Again 8.

Design, Causality, and Purpose The Causal Principle and the Causal Maxim ( Dialogues , Part Two) * Theism and the Dialogues * The Design Argument: Initial Formulation * On Proportioning Degrees of Belief and Evidence * Arguments from Experience * Inductive Arguments and Lawlike Connections * Inductive Argument and Argument by Analogy * The Design Argument and Postulation of Theoretical Entities * Relevant versus Irrelevant Properties * The Fallacy of Composition * Opposing Analogies * Is the Universe a Thing? * Being Designed and Having a Purpose 9. Inductive Arguments and Analogical Arguments Cleanthes'' Attempt to Avoid Philo''s Critique ( Dialogues , Part Three) * Inductions from Single Cases * Review and Prospect * A Two-Stage Design Argument * Argument by Analogy to Properties of the Universe''s Designer * The Most Plausible Analogy or Model * Miscellaneous Topics * (A10) and Ultimate Explanations 10. Design Arguments and Multiple Models Ramifications of and Alternatives to the Designer Hypothesis ( Dialogues , Part Four) * More Ramifications of the Designer Hypothesis ( Dialogues , Part Five) * Alternatives to the Designer Hypothesis Again ( Dialogues , Part Six) * The Universe, Vegetables, and Animals ( Dialogues , Part Seven) * Various Models for Understanding Universal Order Again * Alternative Models for Explaining Universal Order ( Dialogues , Part Eight) 11. Other Theistic Arguments Demea''s a Priori Arguments ( Dialogues , Part Nine) * The Notion of Necessary Existence * The Universe and Necessity * Explanation and Infinite Series * Philonian Determinism 12. Evil, Happiness, and Goodness Religion and Fear ( Dialogues , Part Ten) * Hedonism * The Equivocation Argument * The Equivocation Argument Assessed * Happier Possible Persons? * Means and Ends * The Argument of Epicurus * The Argument of Epicurus Assessed * Omnibenevolence and the Phenomena 13. Evil, Prediction, and Probability The Prediction Argument ( Dialogues , Part Eleven) * Is Evil a Priori Unlikely? * The Aquinas Line * The Leibniz Line * Determinism and Responsibility * Disanalogies between God and Human Agents * Direct and Indirect Causation * The Consistency Question * Philo''s Four Causes * Philo''s Four Circumstances * The Four Circumstances Argument * Evil and Probability Part III: Further Humeana 14. Superstition, Enthusiasm, Suicide, and Immortality Of Superstition and Enthusiasm * On Suicide * Immortality * Metaphysical Arguments * Moral Arguments * Physical Arguments * Ethical Arguments * The Pre- Dialogues Dialogue 15. Miracles What Is a Miracle? * Miracles and "Extraordinary" Events * Miracles and the Stormy History of Science * Miracles and Epistemology * Hume''s Argument Appraised * Hume''s Subsidiary Arguments * Some Comments about the Subsidiary Arguments * Hume''s Main Position on Miracles * Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index.