ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the problems and prospects for establishing the existence of miracles. David Hume writes that a miracle is a transgression of a law of nature by a particular volition of the Deity. Hume's broad-brush generalization about the unreliability of witnesses is an overstatement. Hume might insist on a different point: using a miracle story as evidence for a particular religion is a problem if competing religions offer equally credible miracle stories. Wonderland is blessed by the gods; real miracles are common there. The gods are less kind to Glumdom; real miracles are far scarcer there. Hume's case against miracles is flawed. His common-sense cautions are reasonable but his more ambitious argument fails. His argument that miracles are by nature improbable is open to serious criticism. Miracle stories typically come from uneducated and uncritical witnesses but even people of good sense have a love of the fantastic that leads them to believe amazing tales.
