Identify David Humes understanding of miracles.

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Identify David Humes understanding of miracles

The philosopher David Hume has suggested that a miracle can be defined as ‘A transgression of a law of nature by a particular volition of the Deity or by the interposition of some invisible agent. This is a definition that has found general acceptance by philosophers today.

In other words, according to Hume, a miracle is brought about when some ‘invisible agent’ affects the working of the universe. It is important to note that this ‘invisible agent’ does not inevitably point to an act of God, as this ‘invisible agent’ is not, according to Hume, necessarily the God of traditional theism.

To clarify exactly what is meant by a ‘transgression’ in this context, Richard Swinburne has used Biblical examples such as water turning into wine. In these examples it is not the events themselves which make them remarkable but the time scale within which they take place. For example, when water is normally turned into wine it does not happen spontaneously nor does it take a mere few seconds. As the aforementioned Biblical events take place seemingly outside of such natural laws, they are considered miraculous.

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The transgression of a natural law is not considered sufficient in isolation to grant the event status of a miracle. Swinburne and others consider that miracles need to hold some deeper significance than the transgression itself, pointing to some underlying plan or reality.

People do not believe in miracles. Discuss

Fundamental opposition to Hume definition of a miracle as a transgression of natural laws comes from some theists who argue that everything depends on God, whether it is a violation of natural laws or not. However, this is a view held more by a majority ...

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