Hume and the Independent Witnesses

Mind 124 (496):1013-1044 (2015)
Abstract
The Humean argument concerning miracles says that one should always think it more likely that anyone who testifies to a miracle is lying or deluded than that the alleged miracle actually occurred, and so should always reject any single report of it. A longstanding and widely accepted objection is that even if this is right, the concurring and non-collusive testimony of many witnesses should make it rational to believe in whatever miracle they all report. I argue that on the contrary, even multiple reports from non-collusive witnesses lack the sort of independence that could make trouble for Hume.
Keywords No keywords specified (fix it)
Categories (categorize this paper)
DOI 10.1093/mind/fzv076
Options
 Save to my reading list
Follow the author(s)
Edit this record
My bibliography
Export citation
Find it on Scholar
Mark as duplicate
Request removal from index
Revision history
Download options
Our Archive


Upload a copy of this paper     Check publisher's policy     Papers currently archived: 30,694
External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server
Configure custom proxy (use this if your affiliation does not provide a proxy)
Through your library
References found in this work BETA
Bayesian Epistemology.Luc Bovens & Stephan Hartmann - 2003 - Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Philosophy of Natural Science.Carl G. Hempel - 1966 - Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall.
Bayesian Epistemology.Luc Bovens & Stephan Hartmann (eds.) - 2004 - Oxford University Press.

View all 23 references / Add more references

Citations of this work BETA

Add more citations

Similar books and articles
Too Odd (Not) to Be True? A Reply to Olsson.Luc Bovens, Branden Fitelson, Stephan Hartmann & Josh Snyder - 2002 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 53 (4):539-563.
A New Interpretation of Hume's 'Of Miracles'.Chris Slupik - 1995 - Religious Studies 31 (4):517 - 536.
Too Odd (Not) to Be True: A Reply to Olsson.Stephan Hartmann, Luc Bovens, Branden Fitelson & Josh Snyder - 2002 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 53 (4):539-563.
Hume and Miracles.Matthew C. Bagger - 1997 - Journal of the History of Philosophy 35 (2):237 - 251.
Hume's Fallacy.K. Rao - 1981 - Journal of Parapsychology 45.
Bayesian Analyses of Hume's Argument Concerning Miracles.Michael Levine - 1997 - Philosophy and Theology 10 (1):101-106.
Added to PP index
2015-08-05

Total downloads
109 ( #47,422 of 2,197,195 )

Recent downloads (6 months)
12 ( #16,438 of 2,197,195 )

How can I increase my downloads?

Monthly downloads
My notes
Sign in to use this feature