Skip to main content
Log in

An application of Michel Meyer's Theory of problematology to David Hume's Diaologues concerning natural religion

  • Published:
Argumentation Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study advances the claim that Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, which drew its inspiration and guidelines from Cicero's De Natura Deorum, fulfills four basic elements of Michel Meyer's theory of problematology. In doing so, it is argued, the Dialogues contribute importantly to our understanding of the question-answer pair, and to the notion of rhetoric as a way of knowing.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

Bibliography

  • Battersby, Christine: 1979, ‘The Dialogues as Original Imitation: Cicero and the Nature of Hume's Scepticism’, in David F. Norton, Nicholas Capaldi and Wade L. Robison (eds). McGill Hume Studies, Austin Hill Press, San Diego.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burton, John H.: 1846, Life and Correspondence of David Hume, 2 vols., William Tait, Edinburgh.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chappell, V. C.: 1963, The Philosophy of David Hume, The Modern Library, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cicero: 1960, De Fato, H. Rackham (ed.), Harvard University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cicero: 1979, De Natura Deorum, H. Rackham (ed.), Harvard University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Golden, James L. and David L. Jamison: 1988, ‘Michel Meyer's Theory of Problematology’, Questioning Exchange 2, 149–163.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greig, J. Y. T.: 1931, David Hume, Oxford University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greig, J. Y. T. (ed.): 1932, The Letters of David Hume, 2 vols., Clarendon Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hendel, Charles W.: 1925, Studies in the Philosophy of David Hume, Princeton University Press, Princeton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hume, David: 1898, A Treatise of Human Nature, 2 vols., T. H. Green and T. H. Grose (eds.), Longman, Green, and Co., New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hurlbutt, Robert H.: 1988, ‘The Carless Sceptic — The “Pamphilian” Ironies in Hume's Dialogues’, Hume Studies 14, 209–248.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huxley, Thomas H.: 1896, Hume, D. Appleton and Company, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klibansky, Raymond and Ernest C. Mossner (eds.): 1954, New Letters of David Hume, Clarendon Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laing, B. M.: 1932, David Hume, Oxford University Press, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Locke, John: 1760, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, 2 vols., D. Browne et al., London.

  • Meyer, Michel: 1980, ‘Science as a Questioning Process: A Prospect for a New Type of Rationality’, Reveu Internationale de Philosophie 131–132, 49–89.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, Michel: 1980, ‘Dialectic and Questioning: Socrates and Plato’, American Philosophical Quarterly 17, 281–289.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, Michel: 1981, Langue Française 52, 80–99.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, Michel: 1982, ‘Argumentation in Light of a theory of Questioning’, Philosophy and Rhetoric 15, 81–103.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, Michel: 1983, Meaning and Reading, John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam/Philadelphia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, Michel: 1986, ‘Problematology and Rhetoric’, in James L. Golden and Joseph J. Pilotta (eds.), Practical Reasoning in Human Affairs: Studies in Honor of Chaïm Perelman, D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, Michel: 1986, De La Problématologie, Pierre Mardaga, Brussels.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mossner, Ernest C.: 1977, ‘Hume and the Legacy of the Dialogues’, in G. P. Morice (ed.), David Hume: Bicentary Papers, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, John O.: 1988, ‘The Role of Part XII in Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion’, Hume Studies 14, 347–366.

    Google Scholar 

  • Penelhum, Terence: 1979, ‘Hume's Skepticism and the Dialogues’, in Norton, Capaldi and Robison (eds.), McGill Hume Studies, Austin Hill Press, San Diego.

    Google Scholar 

  • Price, John V.: 1965, The Ironic Hume, University of Texas Press, Austin.

    Google Scholar 

  • ‘Review of Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion’, The Monthly Review: 1779, 61, 343–355.

  • Schmitz, Robert M.: 1948, Hugh Blair, King's Crown Press, Morningside Heights.

  • Selbe-Bigge, L. A. (ed.): 1936, Enquiries Concerning the human Understanding and Concerning the Principles of Morals by David Hume, Clarendon Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, Norman Kemp (ed.): 1947, Hume: Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stephen, Leslie: 1876, History of English Thought in the Eighteenth Century, 2 vols., Smith, Elder, & Co., London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wandia, P. S.: 1979, ‘Philo Confounded’, in Norton, Capaldi, and Robison (eds.), McGill Hume Studies, Austin Hill Press, San Diego.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, Richard: 1988, ‘Hume's Dialogues and the Comedy of Religion’, Hume Studies 14.

  • Yandell, Keith E.: 1976, ‘Hume on Religious Belief’, in Donald W. Livingston and James T. King (eds.), Hume: A Re-Evaluation, Fordham University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Golden, J.L. An application of Michel Meyer's Theory of problematology to David Hume's Diaologues concerning natural religion . Argumentation 5, 69–89 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00058419

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00058419

Key words

Navigation