Is it Rational to Believe in Miracles? A Discussion of David Hume’s Argument Against Believing in Miracles
Gavin House 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, ILCan one be rational and also believe in miracles? The philosophers of the Enlightenment held that it was impossible for the laws of nature to allow such ruptures: to believe in miracles was to be de-facto irrational. Voltaire said that a miracle was a "contradiction in terms," and Thomas Jefferson famously cut all the miracles out of his Gospels with a razor. David Hume presented a famous argument against the rationality of believing in miracles in his Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (Chapter 10). Over dinner on Saturday evening, Dr. Jason Cather (University of Chicago) will lead a discussion on Hume’s argument. Does it...