Dialogues and Natural History of Religion

“I think that the most important contributions, the best books, in the philosophy of religion are these two little books that David Hume writes” Read more...

The best books on Atheist Philosophy of Religion

Graham Oppy, Philosopher

“Hume is the main man….It’s an interesting question whether he’s a good writer or not. I’ve always thought him a good writer, but I know some people read Hume and find him difficult. It’s partly just a question of period style. He does tend to write in very long sentences. I think that was just the typical writing of the time. In the 18th century people put a lot of commas and semicolons in, and there weren’t so many full stops. Present day readers can find that quite awkward.” Read more...

The best books on Atheism

Julian Baggini, Philosopher

“His friends urged him not only to give up the idea of having it published in his lifetime, but even of having it published after his death, because they thought that it would condemn all this other works to the dustbin of history.” Read more...

The best books on God

Anthony Gottlieb, Philosopher

“Part of the beauty of the Dialogues — and one thing that makes it a very funny book apart from anything else — is that Hume gives us two spokesmen for religious belief.” Read more...

The best books on David Hume

Simon Blackburn, Philosopher

“I think it’s a remarkable book. The Dialogues were published after he died, though the Natural History of Religion was published in 1757. …..Hume thought it didn’t actually make much difference whether you believed that God did design the universe or whether you didn’t, because if you could say nothing about this God then it wasn’t a very interesting belief to hold.” Read more...

The best books on Morality Without God

Mary Warnock, Philosopher