A defense of Hume on miracles /
"Since its publication in the mid-eighteenth century, Hume's discussion of miracles has been the target of severe and often ill-tempered attacks. In this book, one of our leading historians of philosophy offers a systematic response to these attacks." "Arguing that these criticis...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Princeton, N.J. :
Princeton University Press,
©2003.
|
| Series: | Princeton monographs in philosophy.
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Connect to this title online (unlimited users allowed) |
| Summary: | "Since its publication in the mid-eighteenth century, Hume's discussion of miracles has been the target of severe and often ill-tempered attacks. In this book, one of our leading historians of philosophy offers a systematic response to these attacks." "Arguing that these criticisms have - from the very start - rested on misreadings, Robert Fogelin begins by providing a narrative of the way Hume's argument actually unfolds. What Hume's critics (and even some of his defenders) have failed to see is that Hume's primary argument depends on fixing the appropriate standards of evaluating testimony presented on behalf of a miracle. Given the definition of a miracle, Hume quite resonably argues that the standards for evaluating such testimony must be extremely high. Hume then argues that as a matter of fact, no testimony on behalf of a religious miracle has even come close to meeting the appropriate standards for acceptance. Fogelin illustrates that Hume's critics have consistently misunderstood the structure of this argument - and have saddled Hume with perfectly awful arguments not found in the text. He responds first to some early critics of Hume's argument and then to two recent critics, David Johnson and John Earman. Fogelin's goal, however, is not to "bash the bashers," but rather to show that Hume's treatment of miracles has a coherence, depth, and power that makes it still the best work on the subject."--Jacket. |
|---|---|
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (xii, 101 pages) |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 95-96) and index. |
| ISBN: | 9781400825776 1400825776 0691114307 9780691114309 0691122431 9780691122434 1282665715 9781282665712 9786612665714 6612665718 |