3F: contrasting views on miracles

Question 1

Who are the two contrasting philosophers?

Answer 1

• David Hume (1711-1776)
• Richard Swinburne (1934-present)

Question 2

Hume’s main reasons to disregard miracles:

Answer 2

• weight of evidence against miracles
• miracle testimonies are of poor quality
• challenges relating to the contradictory nature of faith claims

Question 3

Hume - weight of evidence against miracles:

Answer 3

-

Question 4

Hume - miracle testimonies are of poor quality:

Answer 4

• Hume also argued that miracle testimonies are comprised because they are of poor quality
• Hume was concerned about the credibility of the witnesses to miracles. He believed that witnesses to miracles were uneducated, gullible or have something to gain
• also highlights three main reasons,
  + witnesses are uneducated
  + prone to wonders
  + people have something to gain

Question 5

Witnesses are uneducated:

Answer 5

• Hume argued that stories of miracles tended to come from ‘ignorant and barbarous places and nations’, rather than from well-educated people
• therefore claims shouldn’t be trusted, e.g. Jesus’ miracles were mostly witnessed by his disciples who were mostly uneducated fishermen or labourers.
• he claims that there have not been found educated witnesses and therefore miracle testimonies should be doubted

Question 6

Prone to wonders:

Answer 6

• Hume argues an uneducated person is also prone to looking for marvels and wonders in life. They have no understanding of science and therefore when the unusual happens they have no urge to question the events and immediately call it a miracle
• Hume calls them gullible
• moreover, the excitement arising from miracles gives a tendency toward the belief of those events, e.g. uneducated people get carried away

Question 7

People have something to gain:

Answer 7

• miracle stories tend to be from people with something to gain, e.g. the disciples had a lot to gain by making up miracle stories of Jesus. It made Jesus, and them, look good.
• The disciples were also biased and therefore not a credible witness

Question 8

Hume - challenges relating to contradictory nature of faith claims:

Answer 8

• different religious traditional miracle stories contradict/counteract one another. If an Islamic miracle supports Islam, by default it discredits Christianity. Likewise, any claim of a Christian miracle discredits Islam
• Therefore Hume argues they cannot all be right and concludes it probably means they are all false

Question 9

Swinburne’s main reasons for accepting miracles?

Answer 9

• miracles are the simplest explanation
• we should believe miracle testimonies
• miracles show God’s love

Question 10

Swinburne - miracles are the simplest explanation:

Answer 10

• a rational or sensible person would accept miracles occur.
• this is because if something out of the ordinary happened, that broke an existing law of nature, it is more rational to accept a miracle has occurred, than to accept the existing law of nature was wrong
• if we cannot find any ither cause for the unexplainable event, it should be attributed to God
• this idea called Ockham’s Razor. This is a general philosophical tool to help people decide between two alternative viewpoints - it states that the simplest explanation is usually the truth.

Question 11

Swinburne - we should believe miracle testimonies:

Answer 11

• we rely on people’s general testimonies everyday. Therefore why do we make the exception when someone tells us they have witnessed a miracle, this is hypocritical
• this is especially true if there is no obvious reason for them to lie or they were mistaken
  -For Swinburne, because people do claim to have seen miracles we should accept their testimonies as the truth

Question 12

Swinburne - miracles show God’s love:

Answer 12

• “miracles are expressions of God’s love and his response to special pleading”
• loving parents sometimes break their own rules in response to ‘special pleading’ from their children
• in the same way God will occasionally break his own rules with a miracle in response to special pleading from His children to relieve suffering
• this is known as the ‘epistemic distance’

Question 13

How does Swinburne answer Hume’s criticisms - weight of evidence?

Answer 13

• Swinburne does conceded that in terms of people witnessing a miracle then the weight of evidence is against miracles. However he believes this is too basic to judge the truth of miracles
• he lists three principles for weighing conflicting evidence:
  + evidence of different kinds ought to be given different weights
  + evidence should be given different weights in accordance with previous reliability
  + multiple similar testimonies ought t0 be given more weight than a lesser number of contrary testimonies

Question 14

How does Swinburne answer Hume’s criticisms - credibility of witnesses?

Answer 14

• Swinburne concedes that some will have been deceived
• Hume’s point that miracle stories are based in ignorant and barbarous nations is offensive/ Just because they occurred in parts of the world where Hume was not particularly familiar with doesn’t mean that they are ignorant and barbarous.
• in fact in some ways this makes Hume come across as ignorant.

Question 15

How does Swinburne answer Hume’s criticisms - contradictions regarding different faiths?

Answer 15

• Hume stated miracles in different religious traditions cancel each other out
• Swinburne argues Hume’s argument is only partially valid. This is because the two miracles may not result in a conflict
• Miracles illustrate the power and love of God, a theme which is shard across all religions