Philo is the fictional skeptical interlocutor in David Hume's posthumously published Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779), widely interpreted as the mouthpiece for Hume's own philosophical views. Through Philo, Hume mounts sustained skeptical challenges against natural theology, the design argument, and the scope of human reason. His arguments remain foundational texts in the philosophy of religion and epistemology.
Argues that demonstrative reasoning cannot extend past observations to conclusions about unobserved cases (problem of induction)
Advances the problem of evil as a decisive objection to natural theology
Critiques the analogical structure of the design argument for God's existence
Defends strict empirical limits on metaphysical and theological inference