Are Reports About Miracles Credible?

Are Reports About Miracles Credible?

Throughout history there have been countless reports of miraculous events that are attributed to a divine authority. The British philosopher David Hume (arguably one of the greater philosophers in history) wrote about these reports in such a manner as to discount their credibility. I agree with Hume’s position in this regard, and this essay will discuss the reasons for Hume’s arguments, some definitions of miracles, and Hume’s specific arguments against the validity of accounts of miracles. In addition, I will attempt to provide some additional arguments and discussions that further support Hume’s position and reveal the lack of credibility found in most chronicles of miracles.

The first question one must ask is: why was Hume writing about miracles? Most people believed that people were created in God’s image. Hume was most concerned with human nature, however, and he believed that people were essentially just very intelligent animals (Craig, 2002, p. 26). His goal was to change these ideas and show that, although people are very intelligent and capable of planning and reasoning, they have much more in common with animals than they do with a divine being. In fact, Hume’s beliefs and arguments lead us to entertain the concept of the non-existence of God.

It does not appear that Hume wanted to completely obliterate religion. He did, however, want to strip away the superstition that was embedded in religious practices and beliefs. Hume believed that religious belief systems were formed in one of two ways: from personal experience and reason or through revelation (via a religious text or religious authority) (Craig, 2002, p.28). The problem, according to Hume, is that people can never...

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...e impossible for one to ever believe the report of a miracle. The very nature of miracles seems to preclude the possibility of being “believable”. Even if, at some point, an event occurs that defies the laws of nature and is witnessed by a sufficiently large number of people and is repeatable, the most likely response from a logical-minded individual would be to begin the search for empirical evidence and the search for its scientific explanation. In my opinion, it is extremely unlikely that such an event would, today, be attributed to a supernatural deity.

Works Cited

Craig, E. (2002). Philosophy: a very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Miracle. 2011. Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online. (n.d.). Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online. Retrieved January 21, 2011, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/miracle