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The Story of Hume

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be false. Additionally Hume believes that miracles used by religions to prove their religion true would be cancelled out, as not every religion could be true.

Dawkins presents a key strength of Hume’s second argument, by supporting his belief that miracles are only reported by the uneducated, as he believes there is a scientific explanation for the effects, such as Jeanne Fretel being cured at Lourdes. The miracles of people being cured at Lourdes, as well as those reported in the Bible simply show that miracles were used to cover up a lack of understanding of a way the world worked and to increase people’s faith in God, something which is no longer necessary as most people no longer rely on God for guidance therefore Hume presents a relevant argument rejecting miracles.

Atkins supports Hume’s argument that the typical educated person would not be inclined to report the occurrence of a miracle as they would know better. According to Atkins it is only the publicity seeker or someone deluded or hallucinating who would claim to have witnessed such an event as they may lack the scientific level of understanding of their peers, therefore Hume’s argument is relevant.

However this view has been criticised by Swinburne as it raises questions about how to define terms Hume raises. It is unclear at what stage a person becomes “educated” sufficiently to reject miracles. It is also unfair to assume that a person believes in miracles simply because they do not know any better, as it is possible to both have a strong belief in God and a good understanding of Science. Further to this it is unclear what constitutes being “ignorant and barbarous” as whilst earlier nations may now seem uneducated compared to modern times, the nation may have been highly educated for the time as the standards change. Therefore the relevance of Hume’s second argument can be

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