Three Essays on Religion: Nature, the Utility of Religion, Theism (Great Books in Philosophy)

A classic work by Mill, in which he discusses Natural Theology. His essay on Nature is right on, pointing out that it isn't enough to point to Nature, and that natural is not necessarily good. His dissection of the arguments for the existence of God are good, but he makes some suppositions which are not necessarily well argued or well supported, even by the evidence of his own day. He gives a bit too much credit to religion for the good it does, without taking enough credit back for the bad it does. His conclusions are somewhat unclear and appear to have been written more with the idea of appeasing than convincing. It is always necessary, of course, to keep in mind the great risks throughout history that accrue to individuals taking a show more straight position on the non-existence of God, but overall, this particular work was a bit obfuscatory and waffled quite a bit. Overall, it's an interesting and worthy work, but the old fashioned language would probably turn off many modern readers, who can easily get the same arguments from more contemporary authors who have been inspired by Mill. Primarily recommended for those who like to understand earlier times, and are willing to do the work to get there. show less