hume

• Hume's thoughts are based on empiricism: human knowledge is derived from sense experience

  • we cannot know if an event was due to a deity because any deity is 'hidden' + unobservable
• Hume accepted the possibility of new + extraordinary events, but they are not miraculous
• Hume followed the inductive approach:

  • whereas effects can be verified, causes cannot
  • everything therefore is about probability, not certainty
• Hume adopts a realist standpoint on the term of miracles: he assumes that religious believers' claims are regarded as factual + literally true

  • a miracle is "a transgression of a law of nature by a particular volition of the Deity"
• Hume's argument is based on the consistency of human sense experience

  • although unusual, it is not a miracle if an apparently healthy man dies suddenly
  • if a dead man came back to life, that would be a miracle as it runs counter to universal sense experience
• 3 aspects to Hume's definition of the term 'miracle'

  • it violates the laws of nature
  • it is willed by God
  • it may be performed by some other spiritual agent
• Hume's arguments against miracles:

  • the validity of witness evidence about anything is dependent on evidence
  • the more unlikely the claim, the more reliable the evidence needs to be
  • an event that violates the laws of nature is maximally improbable
  • therefore, the likelihood that the witnesses are lying or mistaken is always greater than the likelihood that a miracle has happened
• Hume's supporting arguments against miracles:

  • there has never been one single miracle supported by witnesses possessing the attributes required for their claims to be taken seriously
  • people are taken in by claims of miracles because humans are naive in nature
  • miracle stories are the products of primitive superstitions - they come from "ignorant and barbarous peoples"
  • the different religions all lay claim to miracles
• the significance of Hume's views in relation to religious belief

  • it is an inductive argument, so can neither definitively prove nor disprove the existence of miracles
  • it is possible to construct a theistic argument along the lines of Hume's + conclude logically that miracles probably do happen
  • Hume's 4 arguments supporting his main argument are not particularly strong + can all be challenged with supporting evidence
  • Hume's concluding statement that Christianity is founded on faith + not reason makes the point: the pre-scientific nature of biblical writing needs to be taken in to account