Volume 45, Issue 1, Spring 2007
Steven M. Bayne
Pages 1-29
Hume on Miracles
Would It Take a Miracle to Believe in a Miracle?
Given Hume’s theory of belief and belief production it is no small task to explain how it is possible for a belief in a miracle to be produced. I argue that belief in a miracle cannot be produced through Hume’s
standard causal mechanisms and that although education, passion, and testimony initially seem to be promising mechanisms for producing belief in a miracle, none of these is able to produce the belief in a
miracle. I conclude by explaining how this poses a problem for Hume’s theory of belief and I briefly investigate the alternatives available for solving this problem.