Situating Hume's famous work "Of Miracles" in the context of the 18th century debate on miracles, this book shows that it is largely unoriginal. It also discusses the issues of eyewitness testimony to establish the credibility of marvelous and miraculous events. It aims to contribute to the history of ideas, the philosophy of religion, and more.
By situating Hume's famous work "Of Miracles" (which notoriously argues against the possiblity of miracles) in the context of the 18th century debate on miracles, Earman shows that Hume's argument is largely unoriginal, and largely without merit where it is original. On the positive side, he shows how progress can be made on the issues, so provocatively posed in Hume's essay, about the ability of eyewitness testimony to establish the credibility of marvelous and miraculous events. Earman's work is simultaneously a contribution to the history of ideas, the philosophy of religion, and to probability and induction.
[the] argument itself is very clear, very cogent, and very apposite to present debates
