"A. J. Ayer, while introducing his classic exposition of logical positivism in 1936, claimed: "The views which are put forward in this treatise derive from ... doctrines ... which are themselves the logical outcome of the empiricism of Berkeley and David Hume.
Hume je bil obtožen herezije, a njegovi prijatelji, mladi duhovniki so ga branili z utemeljitvijo, da kot ateist ne spada pod pristojnosti Cerkve.