Which character is Hume in the "Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion"?
Upon first reading of the 'Dialogues,' it seems obvious that Philo is the character who represents Hume's views, so that Philo could be seen as Hume's mouthpiece: this is the view taken by Norman Kemp Smith. Indeed, upon considering each of the three main characters, Demea, Cleanthes and Philo, in turn, I shall argue that it is Philo who has the closest correlation with Hume. However, it seems to me that Hume wrote his discussion of 'natural religion' as a dialogue mainly because he wished to avoid the sort of identification which is associated with direct philosophical discussion, such as in his 'Treatise' and 'Enquiries,' and thus the text is far more than Hume arguing his case purely through Philo. Hume wished to avoid the appearance of 'pedagogue and pupil,' because he wished to provoke the reader's thought. To infer Hume's beliefs we must analyse the text as a whole, not merely what Philo says. I shall argue that Hume's ultimate conclusion is that, even if the teleological argument does prove the existence of God, nothing can follow from that premiss, and so effectively the argument from design proves nothing at all.
There does not seem to be a convincing argument that Demea 'is' Hume. To my mind, the only reasonable argument that could be put forward to the contrary is that which highlights the fact that Demea shares Hume's belief that God is essentially unknowable. Noxon mentions this similarity, but does not consider the possibility that Demea is Hume on the basis that no philosopher that he knows of has ever suggested the link (1964: 250). Demea argues that, due to the limits of human reason, we could never know what qualities God possesses: the human mind is so limited compared to God that it would be vain to attempt to consider God in terms of human properties (1998: 43-4). Likewise, Hume directly asserts in the 'Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding,' that the qualities of God could not be known or inferred by human minds (2004, 96). It seems to me that this link cannot be disputed.