An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section 10 Essay

In Hume’s 1748 publication: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding , Section 10 is titled Of Miracles. This section is an extended argument against the veracity of miracles. In response to Hume, Richard Price published Four Dissertations in 1768. In Dissertation IV, The Importance of Christianity, the Nature of Historical Evidence and Miracles, Price outlines a Bayesian argument against Hume’s conclusions that miracles cannot ever occur. My thesis is that Price’s Bayesian argument, arguably the first use of Bayes’ Theorem to challenge another published argument fails. It fails on three fronts: it mischaracterizes Hume’s argument as non-conditional; it improperly employs a Bayesian model test case of newspaper reporting; and it does not consider the effects of the preliminary seeding of probabilities for its Bayesian model of miracles. 1.0 Hume’s Argument Against Miracles Hume’s argument is multi-faceted but most commentators (Millican, Earman) agree that the key summary occurs in paragraph 13. The plain consequence is (and ‘tis a general maxim worthy of our attention) â€Å"That no testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind, that its falsehood would be more miraculous, than the fact, which it endeavours to establish†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (E 10.13) This first quote establishes a simple probability model of a miracle occurring (Miracle Happening: MH) given a true testimony about that event (True Testimony: TT) and Hume argues that it must be greaterShow MoreRelatedWhat Is The Problem Of Freewill?1495 Words   |  6 Pagesprovides us with a compelling argument for determinism. Though a libertarian, Richard Taylor justifies the stance that humans assume universal causation without realising. In â€Å"Freedom and Determinism† in Metaphysics, he gives the example of a person who hears a sudden noise and instantly tries to find the cause. This illustrates the fact that recurring experience of causation means that humans have taken the law of cause and effect as a fundamental belief that is objectively true. If we find an event thatRead More Humes Wide Construal of the Virtues Essay3865 Words   |  16 Pagesat around seventy, with the more untraditional ones including wit, good manners, and dialog. Unsurprisingly, Humes crit ics have attacked him for making nonsense of the concept of virtue by construing it so widely. Hume was aware that his broad understanding of virtue was controversial and he offered several defenses for it. After presenting the neglected attacks of his contemporaries along with Humes response, I argue that a problem remains: by failing to distinguish between degrees of virtue, HumeRead MoreDavid Humes Argument Against Belief in the Existence of Miracles2000 Words   |  8 Pagesknowledge comes through the senses. He argued against the existence of innate ideas, stating that humans have knowledge only of things which they directly experience. These claims have a major impact on his argument against the existence of miracles, and in this essay I will explain and critically evaluate this argument. In his discussion Of Miracles in Section X of An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, Hume defines a miracle as â€Å"a violation of the laws of nature and as a firm and unalterableRead MoreThe Foundations Of Rationalism By Plato1762 Words   |  8 Pagestoday a prominent global force manifested in religion, too, holds a function in logical enquiry. Faith is to hold a conviction void of actual evidence, yet Reason needs faith in order to function, it is faith that is linked to the imagination and hypothesis for enquiry. Humans are not machines, which can function on reason alone, and thus, to eradicate faith would be to eradicate a evolutionary flaw in the human makeup. Faith, akin to love in this way, makes individuals happy. In Plato’s dialoguesRead MoreLabour Relations8410 Words   |  34 Pages COSATU†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 10 1.8.2) FEDUSA†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 10 1.8.3) NACTU†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦......... 11 2.) Qualities of a Good Negotiator†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦......... 12 2.1) Characteristics of a Negotiator†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 14 3.) Workplace Forums†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.......... 17 3.1) The Current Position†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 18 4.) Procedural Aspects during a disciplinary enquiry†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.... 20 4.1) Adequate Notice†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 21 4.2) The enquiry must precede the decision†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Read MoreTorture and Custodial Violence in Prisons12554 Words   |  51 PagesNational Human Rights Commission, New Delhi, India Project Report On â€Å" Torture and Custodial Violence in Prisons â€Å" Submitted By- Yashwardhan Pratap Singh 1st year, B.A.LLB Course, Jindal Global Law School, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana. Report on - The Custodial Violence and Torture In Prisons: Can it be justified even if done for a greater good? Where to draw the line between the autonomy of the police and the rights of the prisoners ? Basic StructureRead MoreIti Industrial Training Report16491 Words   |  66 PagesNation’s first Electronic Switching Systems Production Unit. The Unit is situated in the Industrial corridors of  Coimbatore and Kochi (Kanjikode) in the NH-47 and only 10 Km from Palakkad Town. The Unit went into production in 1976 with a meager overall investment of Rs.26 Lakhs for producing  10,500 lines of  small electronic  exchanges  of 10 to 50  Lines capacity. In 1980, the Unit was expanded with an investment of Rs.98 lakhs, to produce 60,000 lines of medium size electronic exchanges of 200 lines capacityRead MorePerformance Appraisal in an Nhs Hospital.2826 Words   |  12 PagesRedman, T. et al.,2000.Performance Appraisal in an NHS hospital.Human Resource Management Journal, 10(1), 48-62 In this paper it will be argued that performance appraisal in National Health Service hospital is effective from the perspective of appraises. Author of the article used a case study of performance appraisal practice in a Trust Hospital. The argument will be developed through a critical review of ‘performance appraisal in NHS Hospital’ article, discussing its conceptual bases, researchRead MoreProject on Settlement of Grievance8309 Words   |  34 Pagestheir administration in prescribed dozes does not cause any side effects to the patients.Ayurveda gives a complete look into the lifestyle of a person, like starting from his/herpersonality to the daily food habits. The Science of Life helps us in understanding each individual at a very subtle personal level and giving a detailed description about the diet, daily routine, lifestyle, actions and activities to be followed. The science teaches how to live life in a balance way. Ayurveda aims at having aRead MoreDeveloping a framework for critiquing health research5723 Words   |  23 Pagesâ€Å"health research includes any study addressing understandings of human health, health behaviour or health services, whatever the disciplinary starting point† (p5). They further suggest that health research may expand knowledge of society and health, or address an existing health care problem. Undergraduates of health related studies therefore have to consider health research in its broadest sense. A common method of assessing understanding both of the subject area and the research methodologies