HKB
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Often appears with: the nature and attributes of God · natural theology · natural law and higher law · ignorance as explanation · final causes · doubt, skepticism, and certainty
Usually: argument (1) · skepticism (1)
“Naturalists indeed very justly explain particular effects by more general causes, though these general causes themselves should remain in the end totally inexplicable; but they never surely thought it satisfactory to explain a particular effect by a particular cause, which was no more to be accounted for than the effect itself.” David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion · insight
Cleanthes replies that once a cause is found it is not required to know the cause of the cause, since ultimate causes may be unknown; Philo counters that this never truly explains anything, merely renames ignorance.
are only more learned and elaborate ways of confessing our ignorance; nor has the one hypothesis any real advantage above the other, except in its greater conformity to vulgar prejudices. You have displayed this argument with great emphasis, replied CLEANTHES: You seem not sensible how easy it is to answer it. Even in common life, if I assign a cause for any event, is it any objection, PHILO, that I cannot assign th…