Alan asked:

Would you say that Hume was an atheist or an agnostic?

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I'm not sure that you can tell this from Hume's writings since he left his philosophy in the study and
distinguished what he wrote from the way he lived. For sure he was extremely scathing about religion
in his paper Superstition and Enthusiasmand his general philosophy would not be compatible with a
belief in God. It is compatible with both atheism but I'm not sure about agnosticism since he was, after
all, an empiricist. However, given that he distinguished what he thought philosophically from the way
he lived, it might well be that believed in God. His essays On Suicideand Of the Immortality of the
Soulwere published after his death and it is suggested by the editor of his Selected Essays (Oxford
World's Classics) that this could be due to Hume's fear of ecclesiastical condemnation and
prosecution. So if he was an atheist or agnostic, he certainly wasn't willing to stand up and be
counted.

Rachel Browne