An assessment of David Hume’s impossibility of miracle

Abstract

Miracle is an occurrence that is above nature and above man; not capable of being discerned by the senses, designed to authenticate the intervention of a power that is not limited by the laws either of matter or of mind. As an act which reveals God to humanity and depicts His intervention in human affairs, miracle has been a subject of philosophical debate. Some exponents of miracle opine that the biggest problem raised by miracles is the belief in God. They are of the view that if God exists, His morality is questionable while others maintain that God would not do miracles, to do so would be irrational and immoral. David Hume dismissed miracle as pious fiction and rationally unjustifiable to believe. The paper assesses the Achilles' heel of David Hume‟s arguments against the possibility of miracle. It adopts a critical evaluation approach to critique Hume‟s argument against miracle especially his argument from the laws of nature. The paper concludes that Hume‟s arguments are unjustifiable to refute the possibility of miracle, being that miracle as a paranormal phenomenon could not be subjected to empirical investigation.

Keywords: David Hume, Miracle, Law of nature, Possibility, Explanation