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.
This vital study offers a new interpretation of Hume's famous "Of Miracles," which notoriously argues against the possibility of miracles. By situating Hume's popular argument in the context of the eighteenth-century debate on miracles, Earman shows Hume's argument to be largely unoriginal and chiefly without merit where it is original. Yet Earman constructively conceives how progress can be made on the issues that Hume's essay so provocatively posed about the ability of eyewitness testimony to establish the credibility of marvelous and miraculous events.
[the] argument itself is very clear, very cogent, and very apposite to present debates