ipl-logo

How Does Hume Use Testimony To Argue Against Miracles

156 Words1 Page

1. How does Clark defend belief from Clifford?

Clark defends against W.K. Clifford's claim that it is wrong to believe anything on the basis of inadequate evidence, and that belief in God without evidence or argument is nevertheless rational. He also concludes that theistic arguments are redundant to understanding God because God would not put the obstacle of difficult thinking between people and Himself.

2. How does Hume use testimony to argue against miracles?

David Hume argues that there has never been the kind of testimony on behalf of miracles which would amount to complete proof. He offers four reasons for this claim.

A miracle is a violation of the laws of nature. Experience teaches us that the laws of nature are never violated

Show More
Related

  • The Bean Trees Chapter Summary

    722 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this chapter Taylor goes on to say what she thinks a miracle. “It reminded me of that Bible story where somebody or other struck a rock and the water poured out. Only this was better, flowers out of bare dirt. The Miracle of Dog Doo Park” (152).Taylor starts to recall of what she thought was a miracle. How a rock was able to pour out water.

    Read More

  • Richard Swinburne Miracles And Historical Evidence Summary

    885 Words  | 4 Pages

    Abby McVay Richard Swinburne Miracles and Historical Evidence Summary: "We have four kinds of evidence about what happened at some past instant-our own apparent memories of our past experiences, the testimony of others about their past experiences, physical traces, and our contemporary understanding of what things are physically impossible," Richard Swinburne mentioned in the second paragraph (page 455). Swinburne ponders what evidence would be needed to support miracles and then challenges arguments put forward by philosophers, like Hume, and the laws of nature. Swinburne's evidence for supporting miracles consists of four main arguments mentioned in the quote. Once the guidelines to support evidence are identified, Swinburne argues that

    Read More

  • How Did Owen Irving Use Miracles In The Production And Destruction Of Faith

    998 Words  | 4 Pages

    Using miracles to test the different

    Read More

  • Of Kierkegaard's Argument For The Existence Of God

    177 Words  | 1 Pages

    Kierkegaard believes that the existence of God could not be proven by reasons. However, he did not think that it was rational to believe in God, but to have faith in God. In Kierkegaard reading I disagree in his perspective because I believe that a person should have faith to believe in God and his existence. I also disagree in how he believes in faith of God, but not in God itself.

    Read More

  • JL Mackie's Argument For The Existence Of God?

    295 Words  | 2 Pages

    In his essay "The Will to Believe" William James tells us that his purpose is to present "a justification of faith, a defense of our right to adopt a believing attitude in religious matters, in spite of the fact that our merely logical intellect may not have been coerced." Page2. I found his arguments also persuasive because he suggests the existence of God cannot be solve by our intellectual means. James argues that intellectual activity is motivated by two goals: to shun error and believe truth. The choice to believe or not is alive, forced and momentous.

    Read More

  • Hansen And Wriggins: A Comparative Analysis

    531 Words  | 3 Pages

    I find this to be the strongest example of the sway these miracles held, even non-believers respected and were drawn to them. I personally can easily put myself in the shoes of one of the curious non-believers of the time, since for me nothing pulls quite like the mysterious. Wriggins also touches on the power of miracles in her depiction of the Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang. Xuanzang set out to gather facts on The Buddha’s life, however a large focus of his was on the miracles The Buddha performed(Wriggins 95). The miracles in these stories were not just agents to recruit new followers to Buddhism, they also held a lot of emotional significance to the practitioners of the time.

    Read More

  • Mackie's Evil And Omnipotence

    933 Words  | 4 Pages

    The question that is asked time and time again is whether or not god exists. It is evident that people hold different beliefs. It is evident that through some of the beliefs of J.L. Mackie that it could be argued that God does not actually exist. I find this argument to be more agreeable. In Mackie’s Evil and Omnipotence, he argues many points to support why it should be believed that god does not exist.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Under God

    715 Words  | 3 Pages

    Thanks Romanii, this has been an entertaining debate. Final rebuttal: Con interprets the part my argument that “Under God” was added in response to communism to presume originalism. Rather, I was only providing historical context. Demonstrating that the justification used for adding the phrase is no longer a current concern. This was purely to provide context.

    Read More

  • Examine Hume's Account Of Belief

    187 Words  | 1 Pages

    Hume’s posited system of belief contained within A Treatise of Human Nature maintains a uniquely contemporary outlook in the discipline of philosophy as well as contemporary psychology. Within the Treatise, special consideration is given with regard to how one forms a belief and how one revises a belief. Given the continued important role of beliefs in relation to resultant actions as well as the ramifications of personal beliefs within a community, it becomes necessary to examine how one comes to belief and how one corrects or revises a belief. It is the intention of the following work to examine Hume’s account of belief as well as belief revision (correction?) and further assess the possible contributions to contemporary psychological research

    Read More

  • David Hume's Testimony On Miracles

    324 Words  | 2 Pages

    These false reports are mainly from poor and uneducated masses. Testimonies of miracles are common among these people, but not by those who live in civilized society. Anyway, if we rely on Hume’s understanding, there would be no miracles whatsoever to believe in. Another reason we can’t trust the testimonies of miracles

    Read More

  • Write An Answer To The Common Side Response To Resurrection That Miracles Are Impossible?

    692 Words  | 3 Pages

    If God exists, he can act if he wants to, and all alleged miracles can be sifted through a historical mesh. Furthermore, legal defeaters can come in handy in miracle-claim analysis. In our legal system, when witnesses provide conflicting testimony, lawyers do not simply throw up their hands and go home. They try to overpower the opponents’ testimony—known as a rebutting defeater—or to sabotage and raise doubts on the rival’s evidence—known as undercutting defeater. Both of these defeaters are relevant in miracle assessment and can be used actively in historical research.

    Read More

  • William Clifford Ethics Of Belief Summary

    829 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the “Ethics of Belief,” William Clifford argues against pragmatic justification for religious belief in saying that “it is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.” Clifford provides a thought experiment exemplifying the immorality of belief without sufficient evidence with an allegory about a parsimonious ship owner, who refrains from shelling out for necessary repairs his ship needs. Suppressing his doubts, he forms a genuine belief that his ship is sea-worthy, rather than going through the costly process of checking it and making the necessary repairs; as Clifford put it, “he got his insurance-money when she went down mid-ocean and told no tales” Clifford explains that the negligent ship owner is culpable for the accident, not because his belief that the ship was sound turned out to be false, but because his reasoning was based on emotions instead of the evidence before him. He was not justified in his belief so he is responsible for the lives lost with the ship. According to Clifford, even if the ship had survived the voyage and had been able to safely sail for many years to come, the owner would have been just as liable for his belief since it was founded on upon insufficient evidence.

    Read More

  • To What Extent Can There Be Proof Of God

    1998 Words  | 8 Pages

    So, maybe even miracles can be explained away through the probabilities of quantum physics. It may be agreed, however, that if a person walked through a wall multiple times that this person may have some supernatural ability or connection with a higher

    Read More

  • Believing In David Hume's Of Miracles

    391 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hume distinguished the general arguments saying that all miracles claim to be a subject to certain failure. According to Hume, miracle itself is a violation of the laws of nature and our knowledge of miracles is more likely based on the testimony of others. However, the secondhand testimony is considered less reliable than if it was experienced by ourselves. In his section “Of Miracles”, Hume argues that we have no convincing reason to believe in miracles, and definitely not to see them as the basis for the religion.

    Read More

  • Skepticism And Belief Essay

    821 Words  | 4 Pages

    However, the skepticism that was brought upon me was highly complex. If I denied that miracles occur, I would also be doubting my own religion and going against the words of God. If I was to believe in my own faith and that miracles exist, however, the question would still remain regarding why another miracle wasn’t presented to my uncle, making me hesitant to value any scientific research. Referring again to Raymo Chet in the piece “Miracles and Explanations”, he claims, “As I searched among the miracles of my faith, I found none that was not contaminated with the likelihood of flawed testimony, fraud, or wishful thinking. Always there was the possibility of a natural explanation”.

    Read More

More about How Does Hume Use Testimony To Argue Against Miracles

Open Document