The purpose of David Hume's philosophy is to lay philosophy on the science of man which is to seek for whole order, scope and level of human knowledge. He inquires into neither ontological nor substantial entity but epistemological mechanism of naturalism to elucidate the foundation of probability of knowledge. According to him, the origin of knowledge is sensational impression and imagination and those two origins of knowledge are foundation of knowledge which are revealed by propensity, naturally given to us. This analysis of knowledge is applied to religion in the same way as in philosophical epistemology. His essential inquiry on religion is not substantial but epistemological: foundation of religious knowledge and probability. He criticizes every theodicy in his contemporary period such as miracle argument, the design argument and fideism and disregard substantial issues on religion. For he belies that religious rationality, probability and, furthermore, the problem of evil are not able to be dealt by the substantial approach. However, religious belief is, in terms of the scheme of Hume's naturalistic foundationalism, rational since it is based on irreversible epistemological foundation: natural propensity. As philosophical knowledge achieves self-coherence by epistemological self-foundation, religious belief can in Hume's view achieve self-rational coherence by natural propensity. David Hume's analysis based on naturalistic foundationalism opens the new horizon of modern religious epistemology.

The purpose of David Hume's philosophy is to lay philosophy on the science of man which is to seek for whole order, scope and level of human knowledge. He inquires into neither ontological nor substantial entity but epistemological mechanism of naturalism to elucidate the foundation of probability of knowledge. According to him, the origin of knowledge is sensational impression and imagination and those two origins of knowledge are foundation of knowledge which are revealed by propensity, naturally given to us. This analysis of knowledge is applied to religion in the same way as in philosophical epistemology. His essential inquiry on religion is not substantial but epistemological: foundation of religious knowledge and probability. He criticizes every theodicy in his contemporary period such as miracle argument, the design argument and fideism and disregard substantial issues on religion. For he belies that religious rationality, probability and, furthermore, the problem of evil are not able to be dealt by the substantial approach. However, religious belief is, in terms of the scheme of Hume's naturalistic foundationalism, rational since it is based on irreversible epistemological foundation: natural propensity. As philosophical knowledge achieves self-coherence by epistemological self-foundation, religious belief can in Hume's view achieve self-rational coherence by natural propensity. David Hume's analysis based on naturalistic foundationalism opens the new horizon of modern religious epistemology.

David Hume, Religion, Naturalism, Foundationalism, Scepticism