David Hume Strengths

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Assess the strengths and weakness of David Hume’s arguments in Of Miracles
In this essay the strengths and weaknesses of David Hume’s argument in Of Miracles will be considered and discussed. The writer will be scrutinizing Hume’s definition of a miracle in order to come to the conclusion that in fact Hume does not make a strong argument.
Hume’s definition of a miracle is that it is an event that is not explicable by natural or scientific causes and is therefore considered a very rare event, which is more probable that the testimony is false than that the miracle actually happened (Davies, 1993, p190). David Hume was an empiricist meaning that he believed that all knowledge came through sense driven experience (EHU 7.1.4/62). For example, …show more content…

Hume questions how humans belief in events develop rather than looking into the nature of how miracles come about into a society. One of his main arguments for this is that the only evidence those who claim a miracle have happened comes from eye witness testimony and that this testimony is just a sort of experience and therefore, belief in miracles is grounded in experience as much as peoples belief in the laws of nature for example. Hume is only interested in questioning the grounds in which people say miracles happen, and seems to brush over factors such as quantity of testimony and time …show more content…

Humans tend to look at factors surrounding the event such as how many people saw it and if the event seems probable or not. Rationally humans are more likely to believe events such as somebody having an illness like cancer and being free from it shortly after being diagnosed without treatment as opposed to someone saying they saw a flying pig in town. This is due to the one event being more probable than another, as humans have heard and read about other people being free from illnesses shortly after being diagnosed before and therefore make the sense driven connection Hume discusses

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