No david humes treatise against miracles is not knock down argument november 1 2019 april 2 2019 by erik manning the apostle paul said that christianity stands or falls on the claim that jesus rose from the dead 1 corinthians 1514 yet for many religious skeptics any argument made for a miracle is a project doomed from the start it simply cannot get off the ground why is that the . Humes argument against the plausibility of believing in miracles on the basis of testimony is probably the most famous contribution to the philosophical debate on this question it is also the most hotly contested and debated some people think that humes argument is eminently reasonable a shining example of his insatiable common sense approach to philosophical argument others are less . Summary david hume in of miracles section x of an enquiry concerning human understanding claimed either that because a miracle would be a violation of the laws of nature miracles are impossible or that one cannot have a justified belief that a miracle occurredthis argument has evoked an enormous amount of discussion both criticising the argument and endorsing the argument. Hume david hume an enquiry concerning human understanding section x of miracles wikipedia text online 1 2 langford michael j 1971 the problem of the meaning of miracle religious studies 71 s 43 52 mackie j l 1982 the miracle of theism arguments for and against the existence of god oxford clarendon. Hume did not originate the key ideas in his essay on miracles most are recycled from arguments of some earlier deist writers as robert m burns has demonstrated the great debate on miracles from joseph glanvill to david hume lewisburg pa bucknell university press 1981 it was hume however whose influence mainstreamed these ideas so that some subsequent thinkers simply took for