The Everlasting Check: Hume on Miracles

Alexander George

Published by Harvard University Press 2016

The Everlasting Check

Hume on Miracles

Alexander George

https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674089105

Overview
Contents

About this book

Alexander George’s lucid interpretation of Hume’s “Of Miracles” provides fresh insights into this provocative text, explaining the concepts and claims involved. He also shows why Hume’s argument fails to engage with committed religious thought and why philosophical argumentation so often proves ineffective in shaking people’s deeply held beliefs.

Reviews

This is an excellent discussion of Hume’s thoughts regarding miracles.
-- J. H. Spence Choice

Alexander George’s interpretation of Hume’s essay is distinguished by lucidity, logical rigor, and attention to textual detail. But George is not content simply to clarify Hume’s argument; he also draws on Wittgenstein and Samuel Johnson to suggest that religious belief need not be connected to evidence in the way that Hume assumed. These reflections will not satisfy those who wish to use Hume to bash religion, nor those who wish to show that Hume is utterly mistaken, but they will appeal to anyone who wishes to think more deeply about evidence, faith, and reason.
-- Ed Witherspoon, Colgate University

This lovely book—wise, humane, brief, and beautifully written—offers both a sympathetic reconstruction of Hume's argument concerning miracles and a series of illuminating reflections on the argument's nature and significance. The book is an ideal point of entry into the argument for students and general readers, but scholars too will find that it gives them plenty to learn from—as well as plenty to contend with.
-- Kenneth P. Winkler Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

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Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xi
1. Hume’s Miracles Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. Hume’s Theorem Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	9
3. Hume and Self-Undermining Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	27
4. Hume and Testimony Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	40
5. Objections to Hume Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	54
6. Too Big for a Blunder? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	75
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	95
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Pages
- Main content: 98

eBook

Published: January 5, 2016
ISBN: 9780674089105