Lecture to Explore Hume, 'True Religion'

Lee Hardy, professor of philosophy at Calvin College, lectures about “Hume’s Defense of True Religion” Thursday, Sept. 6, from 3:15 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. at Hieronymus Lounge in Westmont’s Kerrwood Hall. The talk, based on an essay in a forthcoming anthology from Notre Dame University Press, is free and open to the public.

Jim Taylor, Westmont professor of philosophy, says many scholars think that the 18th-century Scottish philosopher David Hume was an anti-religion agnostic — or even a closet atheist. “However, Dr. Hardy reads Hume as an Enlightenment deist who likes the design argument for God’s existence and is critical only of what Hume calls ‘vulgar religion,’ as opposed to ‘genuine theism.’”

Hardy, who has written several research papers, published a book, “The Fabric of This World: Inquiries into Calling, Career Choice, and the Design of Human Work,” which describes the philosophy of labor and explores career choice, management and job design.

Hardy earned a bachelor’s degree from Trinity Christian College, master’s degrees from Duquesne University and the University of Pittsburgh and a doctorate from Duquesne. In 2007, Calvin College gave him the Presidential Award for Exemplary Teaching.