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→Empiricism
"Upon the whole, I have always considered him [Hume] both in his lifetime and since his death, as approaching as nearly to the idea of a perfectly [[wise]] and [[virtuous]] man, as perhaps the nature of human frailty will permit."
"Upon the whole, I have always considered him [Hume] both in his lifetime and since his death, as approaching as nearly to the idea of a perfectly [[wise]] and [[virtuous]] man, as perhaps the nature of human frailty will permit."
== Worldview ==
The ''Stanford Encylclopedia of Philosophy'' generally describes Hume's worldview as an agnosticism which was very hostile to religion.<ref>[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hume-religion/ Hume on Religion]</ref>
According to the ''Stanford Encylclopedia of Philosophy'':
{{Cquote|Given the more open-ended and inclusive nature of Hume's outlook and aims, the label of “atheism” perhaps suggests a more narrow and doctrinaire position than Hume is comfortable with or concerned to champion. (In this respect Hume's “old atheism” is both less dogmatic and more open-minded in attitude and tone than the forms of “new atheism” associated with the likes of Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris and others of that school.) Granted that the label of “atheism” is in these respects potentially misleading, and that “scepticism” and “agnosticism” fail to properly identify and highlight Hume's wholly hostile and critical attitude towards religious dogma and doctrine (in its orthodox forms), what alternative label is available to us? The most accurate and informative label for describing Hume's views on this subject, I suggest, is irreligion. This is a term that both Hume's contemporaries and our own would understand and can apply to Hume's arguments and outlook without any serious misrepresentation. On one side, calling Hume's views on this subject irreligious avoids any connotations of a dogmatic or rigid atheism, one that is unwilling to accommodate or make common cause with soft scepticism (agnosticism) or thin theism. On the other side, the label of irreligion also makes clear that Hume's fundamental attitude towards religion (qua various forms of thick theism) is one of systematic hostility – that is, he believes we are better off without religion and religious hypotheses and speculations.<ref>[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hume-religion/ Hume on Religion]</ref>}}
==Empiricism==
==Empiricism==