Hume on Miracles: Interpretation and Criticism James E. Taylor* Westmont College Abstract Philosophers continue to debate about David Hume’s case against the rationality of belief in miracles. This article clarifies semantic, epistemological, and meta- physical questions addressed in the controversy. It also explains the main premises of Hume’s argument and discusses criticisms of them. The article concludes that one’s evaluation of Hume’s argument will depend on one’s views about (a) the definitions of ‘miracle’ and ‘natural law’; (b) the type of reasoning one ought to employ to determine the probability that a particular miracle claim is true; and (c) whether reasonable people proportion their beliefs about the occurrence of miracles to their evidence. I. Introduction Philosophical debate about miracles focuses on two questions: (1) What do we mean by ‘miracle’? (the semantic question) and (2) Is it reasonable to believe that miracles occur? (the epistemological question). Moreover, since philosophers agree that part of the answer to the semantic question is ‘an event caused by God’, the epistemological question is closely tied to a cluster of metaphysical questions, most fundamentally, (3) Does God exist? In Book X of An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding,‘Of Miracles’ (72–90), the 18th-century Scottish philosopher David Hume answers the semantic and epistemological questions, and some would say, presupposes an answer to the metaphysical question. Subsequent philosophical conver- sations about miracles almost invariably begin with Hume. II. Hume on Miracles Hume defines a miracle as an event that (a) is caused by God (directly, or indirectly through an ‘invisible agent’) and (b) ‘violates’ (or ‘transgresses’) a law of nature (76, 77). This is his answer to the semantic question. Hume then employs this definition in an argument that concludes that it is never reasonable to believe that a miracle has occurred. This is his answer to the epistemological question. Here is a paraphrase of Hume’s main case against the rationality of belief in miracles (73–7): © 2007 The Author Journal Compilation © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Philosophy Compass 2/4 (2007): 611–624, 10.1111/j.1747-9991.2007.00088.x