Naturalism and wonder: Peirce on the logic of Hume’s argument against miracles
Citation
Export citationLegg, C. (2001). Naturalism and wonder: Peirce on the logic of Hume’s argument against miracles. Philosophia (28)1-4, 297-318.
Permanent Research Commons link: https://hdl.handle.net/10289/773
Abstract
How should we proceed when confronted with a phenomenon (or evidence which points towards a phenomenon) which baffles us? The term "miracle" is a convenient term on which to hang this question. It has a religious meaning, and the arguments I will be discussing are applicable to the case of deciding, for example, whether to believe in the Judaeo-Christian God, based on the reports of miracles offered by the Bible. However, one can generalise from this case to deeper issues about our attitude to the apparently inexplicable. By the apparently inexplicable I mean that which contradicts our most well-confirmed beliefs. This general question is the theme of this paper.
Date
2001-06Type
Publisher
Bar Ilan University
Rights
The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com