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. |
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Page 9
... true save only by Divine decree, it is plain that the universal laws of nature are decrees of God following from the necessity and perfection of Divine nature. Hence, any event happening in nature which contravened nature's universal ...
... true save only by Divine decree, it is plain that the universal laws of nature are decrees of God following from the necessity and perfection of Divine nature. Hence, any event happening in nature which contravened nature's universal ...
Page 12
... true.21 A miracle statement M is a statement that expresses an exception to a true law statement L in the sense that M asserts the occurrence of an event or particular state of affairs, which assertion is incompatible with L. The ...
... true.21 A miracle statement M is a statement that expresses an exception to a true law statement L in the sense that M asserts the occurrence of an event or particular state of affairs, which assertion is incompatible with L. The ...
Page 13
... true that events one would intuitively want to count as marvels fall under the definition of a Hume miracle. But this is just another way of bringing out the point that Hume's account of induction commits him to an awkward position. My ...
... true that events one would intuitively want to count as marvels fall under the definition of a Hume miracle. But this is just another way of bringing out the point that Hume's account of induction commits him to an awkward position. My ...
Page 17
... true that Men do not so easily believe, upon testimony of others, things which to them seem improbable or impossible, but the reason is not because the thing itself admits of no Evidence, but because the Hearer's pre-conceiv'd Opinion ...
... true that Men do not so easily believe, upon testimony of others, things which to them seem improbable or impossible, but the reason is not because the thing itself admits of no Evidence, but because the Hearer's pre-conceiv'd Opinion ...
Page 18
... true is very inconsistent with the laws, by which the motions of the celestial bodies seem to be regulated. . . . It is therefore in nature much more probable, that this account be false. The odds are on the other side'' (57). Peter ...
... true is very inconsistent with the laws, by which the motions of the celestial bodies seem to be regulated. . . . It is therefore in nature much more probable, that this account be false. The odds are on the other side'' (57). Peter ...
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...