The Miseries of Life: Hume and the Problem of Evil

Hume Studies, Volume 34, Number 1, April 2008, pp. 89-114 Tony Pitson is Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Philosophy, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, Scotland, United Kingdom. Abstract My topic is Hume's treatment of the problem of evil in the Dialogues and elsewhere in his philosophical writings. The aim is to provide an overall view of Hume's position which also takes account of the historical debate associated with the problem of evil. Critical and interpretative issues will also be addressed. We shall see that Hume is concerned mainly with a particular form of the evidential argument from evil which appears especially damaging to theistic belief in so far as it calls into question traditional views of the nature of God.