Against Miracles – a short reading from Hume’s ‘Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding’

Lennox Johnson reading

Introduction David Hume (1711-1776) is often considered to be the greatest philosopher ever to write in English. In Book 10 of An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, he discusses miracles. He argues that when deciding whether a miracle has occurred, we must weigh up the evidence in favour of the miracle occurring against the evidence on the other side. But a miracle is a violation of the laws of nature, and these laws have been established on the highest degree of evidence. For this reason, we have good reason to reject …