David Hume (1711-1776) was a Scottish philosopher and historian. He is known for his skepticism, empiricism, and naturalism.
In his book Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779), Hume argues that the existence of God cannot be proven. In fact, he argues that it cannot even be shown to be probable.
The main argument of the book is that we can never know anything about God because there’s no way to prove His existence. So if He exists, He must be outside of nature and beyond our experience; therefore we cannot know anything about Him at all.
In addition, David Hume wrote in his book An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, “If we take in our hand any volume; of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance; let us ask, Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to the flames: For it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.”
Hume also argues that it doesn’t make sense for God to intervene in human affairs because this would violate His own laws of nature — laws which He created for us and which He expects us to follow. If God did intervene in human affairs, it would mean that we are not free beings but rather something completely different from what we think we are: puppets being manipulated by some unknown force beyond our control.
