Hume Essay Research Paper In explaining Humes

Hume Essay, Research Paper

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, .It forms a strong

presumption against all supernatural and miraculous events,

that they are observed chiefly to abound among ignorant and

barbarous ancestors; or if civilized people has ever given

admission to any of them, that people will be found to have

received them from these barbarous ancestors, who transmitted

them with that inviolable sanction and authority, which always

attend perceived opinions.. (Hume p.891) In any case many of

the miraculous events which happened in past history would not

be considered a miracle in today.s world, or at any other time

in history. The reality most people believed at that period,

as a result can be considered lies or exaggerations. Hume

discredits the miracle as to the time period i

Внимание, отключите Adblock

Вы посетили наш сайт со включенным блокировщиком рекламы!
Ссылка для скачивания станет доступной сразу после отключения Adblock!

Скачать