Hume on Miracles
Summary
David Hume, in Section X of his Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, argued
“A rational person should never believe a report that a miracle had actually taken place unless it would be a greater miracle that the person reporting the miracle was mistaken. We should, as a policy, always believe whatever would be the lesser miracle”.
Hume is deliberately playing on the meaning of ‘miracle’. When Hume declares that we should believe whatever is the lesser miracle, he is using the word ‘miracle’ in the everyday sense, which can include something which is merely out of the ordinary.
Hume thought that there had never been a reliable enough report of a miracle on which to base a belief in God. He used several powerful arguments to support this view.
