Term Papers on In Explaining Hume’s Critique Of The Belief In Miracles,

Term Paper Title	In Explaining Hume’s Critique Of The Belief In Miracles,
# of Words	1912
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	7.65

Hume

     In explaining Hume’s critique of the belief in miracles,
we must first understand the definition of a miracle.  The
Webster Dictionary defines a miracle as: a supernatural event
regarded as to define action, one of the acts worked by Christ
which revealed his divinity an extremely remarkable
achievement or event, an unexpected piece of luck.  Therefore,
a miracle is based on one’s perception of past experiences,
what everyone sees.  It is based on a individuals own reality,
and the faith in which he/she believes in, it is based on
interior events such as what we are taught, and exterior
events, such as what we hear or see first hand.
When studying Hume’s view of a miracle, he interprets or
defines a miracle as such; a miracle is a violation of the
laws of nature, an event which is not normal to most of
mankind.  Hume explains this point brilliantly when he states,
“Nothing is esteemed a miracle, if it has ever happened in the
common course of nature.  It is no miracle that a man
seemingly in good health should die on a sudden.” (Hume p.888)
Hume states that this death is quite unusual, however it
seemed to happen naturally.   He could only define it as a
true miracle if this dead man were to come back to life.  This
would be a miraculous event because such an experience has not
yet been commonly observed.  In which case, his philosophical
view of a miracle would be true.
Hume critiques and discredits the belief in a miracle
merely because it goes against the laws of nature.  Hume
defines the laws of nature to be what has been “uniformly”
observed by mankind, such as the laws of identity and gravity.
He views society as being far to liberal in what they consider
to be a miracle.  He gives the reader four ideas to support
his philosophy in defining a true miracle, or the belief in a
miracle. These points leads us to believe that there has never
been a miraculous event established.
Hume’s first reason in contradicting a miracle is, in all
of history there has not been a miraculous event with a
sufficient number of witnesses.  He questions the integrity of
the men and the reputation in which they hold in society.  If
their reputation holds great integrity, then and only then can
we have full assurance in the testimony of men.  Hume is
constantly asking throughout the passage questions to support
proof for a miracle.  He asks questions such as this; Who is
qualified? Who has the authority to say who qualifies? As he
asks these questions we can see there are no real answers, in
which case, it tends to break the validity of the witnesses to
the miracle.
Hume’s second reason in contradicting the validity of a
miracle is that he views all of our beliefs, or what we choose
to accept, or not accept through past experience and what
history dictates to us.  Furthermore, he tends to discredit an
individual by playing on a human beings consciousness or sense
of reality.  An example is; using words such as, the
individuals need for “excitement” and “wonder” arising from
miracles.  Even the individual who can not enjoy the pleasure
immediately will still believe in a miracle, regardless of the
possible validity of the miracle.  With this, it leads the
individual to feel a sense of belonging and a sense of pride.
These individuals tend to be the followers within society.
These individuals will tend to believe faster than the leaders
in the society.  With no regard to the miracles validity,
whether it is true or false, or second hand information.
Miracles lead to such strong temptations, that we as
individuals tend to lose sense of our own belief of fantasy
and reality.  As individuals we tend to believe to find
attention, and to gossip of the unknown.  Through emotions and
behavior Hume tends to believe there has been many forged
miracles, regardless if the information is somewhat valid or
not.
His third reason in discrediting the belief in a miracle
is testimony versus reality.  Hume states, “I...

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