Skeptical fideism in Hume's Dialogues concerning natural religion

Abstract

Despite the fact that Hume is rightfully considered to be an antireligious writer, the concluding Filo's speech in the Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion contains one of the most striking proclamations of Christian fideism in the history of religious thought. In this paper, by investigating Hume's account of the relationship between religious faith and pyrrhonism, and the principal affinities between fideism and philosophical skepticism, I attempt to explain how could this happen. Hume's personal standpoint, which is different than Filo's, may be reconstructed by careful examination of the so called parity argument.