Disputed Questions

Disputed Questions

To What Extent Does Hume’s “Of Miracles” Outline a Positive Philosophical Theory of Induction?

Hume does outline a positive account of induction but that this account is inconsistent with, and undermined by, his earlier “skeptical doubts” about empirical knowledge generally

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Robert J. Hutchinson
Dec 21, 2021
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In his discussion of miracles in the Enquiry, Hume makes a convincing case that induction – that is, experience – is the most reliable source of knowledge we have about the world. Yet elsewhere, Hume argues that experience poses an unresolvable puzzle because, he claims, there is no way to prove logically that the conclusions from experience are trustwo…

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