Online Texts
A proper study of the philosophy of religion must include a survey of the history of the subject. Such great philosophers as St Thomas Aquinas, St Anselm of Canterbury, Rene Descartes, and Immanuel Kant have greatly influenced its development. Indeed, even the ancient Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle made substantial contributions to the philosophy of religion. To fully appreciate contemporary philosophy of religion, one must understand classical philosophy of religion.
In this section of the site, various classic philosophical texts relating to God and philosophy will be collected. The collection will grow over time to include some less well known works as well as the celebrated classics. First in the collection are St Anselm’s Proslogium, Gaunilo’s On Behalf of the Fool, David Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion and The Natural History of Religion, and John Stuart Mill’s Theism.
The versions of the texts presented here are, I believe, in the public domain, and so can, I believe, be reproduced freely. Copyright law is rather complex though, so there’s a chance that this isn’t the case. If you would like to distribute copies of any of the texts, then you should establish to your own satisfaction that it is legal to do so. If you know that any of these works is not in the public domain, then please inform me so that I can remove the offending material from the site.