Abstract

The best defence against the suggestion that Hume’s use of the laws of nature is question-begging is the both-sides-need-the-laws’ response in its variations. Efforts along these lines by Antony Flew, J L Mackie, and more recently J C Thornton are shown to fail. Hume intends to rule out miracles by ruling out, e.g., resurrections, not just rule out calling resurrections miracles’. The both-sides-need-the-laws’ objection can target only the latter and it fails to do even this