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Mind Map by sophie Lucas, updated more than 1 year ago
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Hume on miracles
- Miracles are the violation of law by a supernatural being
- “The transgression
of a natural law by
a particular
volition of the
deity, or by the
interposition of
some invisible
agent”
- This makes miracles easy to identify.
- Restricts God’s
actions to the
laws of nature,
and it does not
focus on God’s
interaction
with the world.
- This makes miracles easy to identify.
- “The transgression
of a natural law by
a particular
volition of the
deity, or by the
interposition of
some invisible
agent”
- They are the least likely
of events (maximally
improbable
- "A miracle is a violation of the laws of
nature, and as firm and unalterable
proof has established these laws, the
proof against a miracle, from the
very nature of the fact, is as entire as
any argument from experience that
can possibly be imagined"
- "A miracle is a violation of the laws of
nature, and as firm and unalterable
proof has established these laws, the
proof against a miracle, from the
very nature of the fact, is as entire as
any argument from experience that
can possibly be imagined"
- "A wise man...proportions
his belief to his evidence"
- Christianity is based upon
miracles, so it is necessary to
believe in them to believe.
- Miracles in the Bible
are symbolic - Wiles
- Miracles in the Bible
are symbolic - Wiles
- “mere reason is
insufficient to
convince us of
its veracity
(accuracy)”
- All religious belief is contrary
to existing (apriori) knowledge
- There is insufficient testimony
- "No testimony is sufficient
enough to establish a miracle,
unless the testimony be of such
a kind, that it's falsehood
proves more miraculous than
the fact which it endeavours to
establish"
- Those who testify miracles may be
deceived, deluded or lying, cannot trust.
- Miracles are improbable events, so
they need witnesses of higher
credulity than probable events
- In order to confirm a miracle, there
must be a significant number of
witnesses with sound education.
- there has never been “in all history, a
miracle attested by a sufficient number
of men of such unquestioned
good-sense, education and learning to
secure us from all delusion”
- Did not specify how
many witnesses and
of what level of
education
- Did not specify how
many witnesses and
of what level of
education
- there has never been “in all history, a
miracle attested by a sufficient number
of men of such unquestioned
good-sense, education and learning to
secure us from all delusion”
- In order to confirm a miracle, there
must be a significant number of
witnesses with sound education.
- Miracles are improbable events, so
they need witnesses of higher
credulity than probable events
- The most impressive testimony will
at most counterbalance the
unlikelihood of the event, not
confirm that it actually happened.
- "No testimony is sufficient
enough to establish a miracle,
unless the testimony be of such
a kind, that it's falsehood
proves more miraculous than
the fact which it endeavours to
establish"
- “The passion of surprise
and wonder arising from
miracles…gives people a
tendency to believe in
those events”
- Humans are naturally
drawn to the
miraculous and love
being ‘dazzled’ by the
mysterious, so can form
unreasonable beliefs on
experiences which
cannot be trusted
- "A religionist
may be an
enthusiast
and sees what
he sees has
no reality: he
may know his
narratives to
be false, yet
persevere in
it, for the sake
of promoting
so holy a
cause"
- Is it sufficient to deny all miracles
of any credibility due to this?
- Scepticism has been
wrong – e.g. European
scientists initially
denied the existence of
the duck-billed platypus
despite the evidence.
- Scepticism has been
wrong – e.g. European
scientists initially
denied the existence of
the duck-billed platypus
despite the evidence.
- "A religionist
may be an
enthusiast
and sees what
he sees has
no reality: he
may know his
narratives to
be false, yet
persevere in
it, for the sake
of promoting
so holy a
cause"
- Humans are naturally
drawn to the
miraculous and love
being ‘dazzled’ by the
mysterious, so can form
unreasonable beliefs on
experiences which
cannot be trusted
- Miracles are "observed chiefly among ignorant and
barbarous nations"
- Stories of miracles from ‘primitive
and barbarous’ nations that do
not understand what is really
(scientifically) happening.
- E.g. miracle of the dancing sun at
Fatima, Portugal, may have been a
result of staring at the sun too long,
causing retinal distortion.
- Rome produced
Tacticus, a man who
recorded miracles,
described by Hume
as “the greatest and
most penetrating
genius of perhaps all
antiquity”
- Stories of miracles from ‘primitive
and barbarous’ nations that do
not understand what is really
(scientifically) happening.
- Miracles are contrary facts
- Claims of miracles
come from many
different sources
- Many religious beliefs are
based on miracles
- People of different faiths all
claim that their religious
experience is evidence that
their belief system is true
- Each claim counters those made by other religions
- Not all miracles can be right as they
cancel each other out, so they must all be
wrong.
- Are miracles the basis of
religions? James would
argue not, that deeper
feelings and personal views
are central, theology is
secondary.
- Are miracles the basis of
religions? James would
argue not, that deeper
feelings and personal views
are central, theology is
secondary.
- People of different faiths all
claim that their religious
experience is evidence that
their belief system is true
- Claims of miracles
come from many
different sources
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