Hume's Abject Failure: The Argument Against MiraclesOxford University Press, 2000 M11 23 - 232 pages This vital study offers a new interpretation of Hume's famous "Of Miracles," which notoriously argues against the possibility of miracles. By situating Hume's popular argument in the context of the eighteenth-century debate on miracles, Earman shows Hume's argument to be largely unoriginal and chiefly without merit where it is original. Yet Earman constructively conceives how progress can be made on the issues that Hume's essay so provocatively posed about the ability of eyewitness testimony to establish the credibility of marvelous and miraculous events. |
From inside the book
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Page 8
... sense, Hume gives a second definition, which he indicates is more accurate than the first: ''A miracle may be accurately defined, a transgression of a law of nature by a particular volition of the Deity, or by the interposition of some ...
... sense, Hume gives a second definition, which he indicates is more accurate than the first: ''A miracle may be accurately defined, a transgression of a law of nature by a particular volition of the Deity, or by the interposition of some ...
Page 11
... sense that it is relative to evidence, although for Hume it is not relative to the evidence that any particular person possesses. What a Miracle Is for Hume Hume commentators have tied 11.
... sense that it is relative to evidence, although for Hume it is not relative to the evidence that any particular person possesses. What a Miracle Is for Hume Hume commentators have tied 11.
Page 12
... sense of his essay. We can cut part way through the knot by noting that no amount of logic chopping can avoid the fact that for all of the participants in the eighteenth-century debate on miracles, Hume included, a resurrection is the ...
... sense of his essay. We can cut part way through the knot by noting that no amount of logic chopping can avoid the fact that for all of the participants in the eighteenth-century debate on miracles, Hume included, a resurrection is the ...
Page 13
... sense this apparent drawback is merely apparent, for on the account of induction I attribute to Hume (see section 9), the probability of a Hume miracle is flatly zero, which leaves room for marvels defined as events with tiny but ...
... sense this apparent drawback is merely apparent, for on the account of induction I attribute to Hume (see section 9), the probability of a Hume miracle is flatly zero, which leaves room for marvels defined as events with tiny but ...
Page 14
... sense of his pronouncement that a resurrection is a miracle because it is not observed in any age or country. Admirers of Hume never tire of trying to saddle miracle enthusiasts with a dilemma stemming from the very definition of ...
... sense of his pronouncement that a resurrection is a miracle because it is not observed in any age or country. Admirers of Hume never tire of trying to saddle miracle enthusiasts with a dilemma stemming from the very definition of ...
Contents
Appendix on Probability | 75 |
Notes | 77 |
Works Cited | 87 |
Additional Bibliography | 93 |
THE DOCUMENTS | 95 |
Index | 213 |
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Common terms and phrases
admit Annet appear asserted assurance Bayes Bayesian believe causes certainty Christian circumstances concerning conclusion conditional probability confirmation contradict contrary course of nature David Hume dead deceive degrees of belief divine doctrine doubt drawing drawn Edition effect establish the credibility event examined extraordinary eyewitness testimony false falsehood force give God’s greater happen Henry Home human testimony Hume’s argument Hume’s essay Hume’s Maxim Hume’s straight rule hypothesis impossible improbability independent witnesses Indian prince inductive inductive reasoning instance JANSENIST Jesus judge laws of nature less Locke’s matter men’s multiple witnessing never observed occurrence opinion particular Peter Annet Philosophical possible posterior probability Price principle prior probability probability axioms proof prove question reason reject religion religious miracles render resurrection Resurrection of Jesus revelation Richard Price Samuel Clarke Scripture sense story sufficient suppose theists things true truth uniform experience veracity violation white ball Woolston
Popular passages
Page 119 - And many of the people believed on him, and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done?
Page 190 - A miracle is a violation of the laws of nature ; and as a firm and unalterable experience has established these laws, the proof against a miracle, from the very nature of the fact, is as entire as any argument from experience can possibly be imagined.
Page 203 - That no testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind, that its falsehood would be more miraculous, than the fact, which it endeavours to establish...
Page 56 - Thus, suppose, all authors, in all languages agree that from the first of January 1600 there was a total darkness over the whole earth for eight days: Suppose that the tradition of this extraordinary event is still strong and lively among the people: That all travellers, who return from foreign countries, bring us accounts of the same tradition, without the least variation or contradiction. It is evident that our present philosophers, instead of doubting the fact, ought to receive it as certain,...
Page 119 - And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.
Page 119 - If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.
Page 177 - ... as has seldom fallen under our observation, here is a contest of two opposite experiences; of which the one destroys the other, as far as its force goes, and the superior can only operate on the mind by the force, which remains. The very same principle of experience...
Page 144 - In the foregoing reasoning we have supposed, that the testimony, upon which a miracle is founded, may possibly amount to an entire proof, and that the falsehood of that testimony would be a real prodigy: But it is easy to shew, that we have been a great deal too liberal in our concession, and that there never was a miraculous event established on so full an evidence.
Page 146 - People at a distance, who are weak enough to think the matter at all worth enquiry, have no opportunity of receiving better information. The stories come magnified to them by a hundred circumstances. Fools are industrious in propagating the imposture; while the wise and learned are contented, in general, to deride its absurdity, without informing themselves of the particular facts, by which it may be distinctly refuted. And thus the impostor...