Bayes, Hume, and Miracles

Faith and Philosophy 10 (3):293-310 (1993)
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Abstract

Recent attempts to cast Hume’s argument against miracles in a Bayesian form are examined. It is shown how the Bayesian apparatus does serve to clarify the structure and substance of Hume’s argument. But the apparatus does not underwrite Hume’s various claims, such as that no testimony serves to establish the credibility of a miracle; indeed, the Bayesian analysis reveals various conditions under which it would be reasonable to reject the more interesting of Hume’s claims

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John Earman
University of Pittsburgh

Citations of this work

Miracles.Michael Levine - 2008 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
The Argument from Miracles.Daniel Bonevac - 2011 - Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion 3:16-40.
The Hume Literature, 1986-1993.William E. Morris - 1994 - Hume Studies 20 (2):299-326.
Bibliography.[author unknown] - 2008 - In Elizabeth S. Radcliffe (ed.), A Companion to Hume. Oxford, UK: Blackwell. pp. 529–552.

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Logische Syntax der Sprache.R. Carnap - 1936 - Philosophy 11 (41):110-114.
The Ninth Bridgewater Treatise.Charles Babbage - 2009 - Cambridge University Press.

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