Demea
E93767
Demea is a character in David Hume’s *Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion* who represents a traditional, fideistic religious perspective emphasizing human ignorance and the limits of reason in theology.
Statements (42)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
fictional character
ⓘ
literary character ⓘ philosophical dialogue character ⓘ |
| advocates | faith over reason in religious belief ⓘ |
| appearsIn | Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| appearsInSection | various parts of Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion ⓘ |
| arguesThat |
God is incomprehensible to human understanding
ⓘ
human misery and weakness show our dependence on God ⓘ human reason is inadequate to comprehend the divine nature ⓘ the divine nature is infinitely beyond human concepts ⓘ |
| associatedWith |
Augustinian or scholastic traditions in interpretation
ⓘ
classical theism ⓘ religious orthodoxy ⓘ |
| contrastsWith |
Cleanthes
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Philo ⓘ |
| createdBy | David Hume ⓘ |
| criticizes |
anthropomorphic conceptions of God
ⓘ
attempts to infer God’s attributes from the natural world ⓘ |
| dialoguePartnerOf |
Cleanthes
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Philo NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| disagreesWith |
Cleanthes’ empirical theism
ⓘ
Philo’s skeptical approach ⓘ |
| emphasizes |
human ignorance in theological matters
ⓘ
limits of reason in theology ⓘ the moral and practical aspects of religion over speculative theology ⓘ the wretchedness of human life without religion ⓘ |
| hasRole | interlocutor in a philosophical dialogue ⓘ |
| holdsView |
metaphysical speculation about God is dangerous or misleading
ⓘ
religious belief should rest on revelation ⓘ religious belief should rest on tradition ⓘ religious doctrines should be accepted on faith ⓘ |
| languageStyle | scholastic and metaphysical ⓘ |
| philosophicalStance |
fideism
ⓘ
theological pessimism about human reason ⓘ |
| represents |
fideistic religious perspective
ⓘ
traditional religious perspective ⓘ |
| supports |
a priori arguments for the existence of God
ⓘ
the cosmological argument in an a priori form ⓘ |
| usedAs |
a foil to Cleanthes’ design argument
ⓘ
a foil to Philo’s skepticism ⓘ |
| usedBy | David Hume to present a fideistic position ⓘ |
| workPublicationYear | 1779 (posthumous publication of Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion) ⓘ |
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.