Régis’ Refutation of Spinoza

Pierre-Sylvain Régis was a significant systematizer and proponent of Cartesian philosophy. In 1691 he published in three volumes the Cours entier de philosophie, ou Systeme general selon les principes de M. Descartes, contenant la logique, la metaphysique, la physique, et la morale. His work can be seen as a more faithfully Cartesian competitor to the occasionalist vector developed by Malebranche and Louis la Forge; the nature of ideas, the metaphysical status of causal relations, and the limits and possibility of knowledge of external things all remained matters of heated debate. But in the background of that whole debate, naturally, lay the specter of Spinoza. Eventually, of course—who hasn’t had this happen to them?—Régis was accused of Spinozism by his occasionalist rivals, and so deemed it worthwhile to clarify just how non-Spinozist he really was. That turns out to be: pretty non-Spinozist!

Hume’s Dialogues on Natural Religion, V-VIII

Part V. Consequences of Anthropomorphism

Philo. Cleanthes denies a priori arguments for the existence of God, but thinks he can prove God’s existence and nature based on experience alone. The best candidate for an experience that might get us there is that of order in nature. The principle of his argument is as follows. We draw an analogy between two causal relations; based on the similarity of effects we infer a similarity of causes. The closer the similarity, the better the inference. He claims that insofar as we find it to be ordered, the universe is like a work of human design, and infers that the world was created by an intelligent designer, akin to a human mind.

This analogy is disastrous.

Hume’s Dialogues on Natural Religion, I-IV

Part I. On Skepticism

Demea. It’s good, Cleanthes, that you’re training Pamphilus in the correct order: Logic, ethics, physics, then finally theology. The last is hardest and most abstract.

Philo. Isn’t there a danger in keeping theology for last, since it’s so important?

Demea. Well, piety and good reverent habits can be taught from an early age; theology as a science should wait.

Philo. The vulgar hate philosophy; those who have studied a little bit are hubristic, thinking that human reason can reach everything and solve all problems. But we philosophers recognize that human reason is extremely limited. Once you’ve seen how contradictory and unsolvable the great philosophical problems are, how could one remain confident in dogmatic theological statements? Better to be a skeptic.

Philosophy of God

I am very excited to be teaching Philosophy of God for the first time this upcoming quarter. The syllabus can be found here.

Here are a few thoughts I’ve had while designing the course.