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George Gedeon Mr. B. Bartlett

Hume discusses how people determine what to believe based on probability and evidence. He says that testimony from humans can usually be relied on due to our fear of being caught lying. Hume also argues that miracles violate natural laws, which are based on patterns of events established by past occurrences. Therefore, a miracle could not be proven using natural laws. The probability of an explanation for a supposed miracle may determine whether it actually occurred or not - if the explanation is less probable than the event itself, this could prove the miracle was real.

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Georges Gedeon
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33 views3 pages

George Gedeon Mr. B. Bartlett

Hume discusses how people determine what to believe based on probability and evidence. He says that testimony from humans can usually be relied on due to our fear of being caught lying. Hume also argues that miracles violate natural laws, which are based on patterns of events established by past occurrences. Therefore, a miracle could not be proven using natural laws. The probability of an explanation for a supposed miracle may determine whether it actually occurred or not - if the explanation is less probable than the event itself, this could prove the miracle was real.

Uploaded by

Georges Gedeon
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George Gedeon

Mr. B. Bartlett
RESPONSE
"ON MIRACLES" BY D. HUME

In this extract of On Miracles, the author, David Hume, sheds light on why
believe or dont believe certain ideas, why testimony is so sacred and
important, and finally the occurrence of miracles. He attributes probability as
a major reason driving the engine of facts.

Hume starts out by stating that in any case, in any event, the person
involved will always go through a certain process to decide whether the
event is true or not, or to help them make a choice concerning two
opposites. History is used as a guideline to what is probable and what isnt.
In a case where one has to make a choice, it should be made by weighing
the supporting experiments for each case, and picking the one in favor of our
personal benefit. And they then proceed with caution, until enough evidence
is regrouped to make a case where it is simply impossible for one event to
take place, thus inclining to the second choice. He believes that this
evidence is best grouped from testimony, since humans fear shame when
detected in falsehood, it is likely that human testimony is of high reliability.
Hume also says that miracles are a violation of the laws of nature. Laws have
been set in order to predict the occurrence of future events that may have
already taken place before. Such as the law of gravity, the symptoms of a
cold, and any other recurring event. So any miracle would be disproving all
natural laws. However, it is possible for a miracle not to be one, to be

nothing more but an event that has been too little observed, since as we
know, we only build upon these past events, but that does not mean the list
is limited, as any new rare event could be considered as a miracle but be in
fact just an event that hasnt occurred enough yet. A miracle cannot be
proven using laws of nature, or else it wouldnt be a miracle. However, the
probability of the explanation of a miracle may or may not disprove whether
the miracle is true. If it is true, its explanation will be much simpler than it is
actually.

In conclusion, it can be said that miracles disprove natural laws, and


that their explanation, if less probable than the event itself, could prove the
rightfulness of an argument concerning the latter. Decisions are made
according to reason based attitude, options are weighed and the ones that
are more numerous are leaned into their favor.

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