What is a miracle, can miracles happen, and do Hume's arguments and the problem of competing claims undermine belief in them?
Miracles: definitions of miracle (Aquinas, Hume), Hume's arguments against miracles, the contradictory-claims objection, and responses defending miracles as evidence for God.
A CCEA A2 8 guide to miracles. Covers definitions of miracle (Aquinas and Hume), Hume's arguments against believing in miracles, the objection from contradictory religious claims, and responses that defend miracles and their value as evidence for God.
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What this dot point is asking
You need to explain the concept of a miracle: the definitions (Aquinas and Hume), Hume's arguments against believing in miracles, the contradictory-claims objection, and the responses that defend miracles, and then evaluate whether miracles can be evidence for God. This is a key theme of A2 8, testing whether reported divine interventions can be rational grounds for belief.
Definitions of miracle
Hume's main argument
Hume's four practical arguments
Hume added four arguments from experience against the reliability of miracle testimony.
- Insufficient witnesses. No miracle has ever had enough educated, sensible, reliable and disinterested witnesses to guarantee it.
- Love of the marvellous. Human beings enjoy wonder and surprise, and so are prone to believe and spread extraordinary stories.
- Origin among the "ignorant". Miracle reports, Hume claimed, flourish chiefly among "ignorant and barbarous" peoples and earlier ages.
- Contradictory claims. The miracles of rival religions support incompatible systems, so they cancel each other out as evidence.
Responses defending miracles
Evaluating miracles as evidence for God
A model evaluation paragraph might run: "Hume's case against believing in miracles is formidable: his point that we should proportion belief to the evidence, and that uniform experience of natural law always weighs heavily against an isolated report, captures a sound scientific instinct, and his practical arguments about unreliable witnesses and the love of the marvellous have real force. Yet the argument has serious weaknesses: it borders on the circular, since defining a law of nature as that which has no exceptions simply assumes that miracles cannot happen, and Hume's wholesale distrust of testimony would, if applied consistently, undermine much ordinary knowledge. Swinburne's more modest claim, that a well-attested, religiously significant event that defies natural explanation can count as some evidence for God, survives Hume's attack, though it falls short of proof, and the contradictory-claims objection is overstated. The judgement, therefore, is that miracles cannot serve as conclusive proof of God, and Hume rightly counsels caution, but that they can provide cumulative, contested evidence within a wider case for theism rather than being ruled out in principle."
Try this
Q1. How did Hume define a miracle? [2 marks]
- Cue. As "a transgression of a law of nature by a particular volition of the Deity".
Q2. Explain Hume's argument that the miracles of different religions cancel each other out. [6 marks]
- Cue. Miracles are used to support rival religions; since these systems are incompatible, their miracles count as evidence against each other and so neutralise each other.
Q3. "Hume's arguments make belief in miracles irrational." Discuss. [20 marks]
- Cue. Weigh Hume's evidential and practical arguments against the charges of circularity and excessive distrust of testimony, and Swinburne's defence. Reach a judgement.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of CCEA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
CCEA A2 8 201820 marksExamine Hume's arguments against belief in miracles.Show worked answer →
An A2 synoptic question, so explain Hume's case fully and assess it.
The definition and the main argument. Explain Hume's definition of a miracle
as "a transgression of a law of nature by a particular volition of the
Deity", and his argument that, since the laws of nature rest on uniform
experience, the evidence against a miracle is always stronger than the
evidence for it, so a wise person never believes one.
The practical arguments. A strong answer covers Hume's four further points:
the lack of reliable witnesses, the human love of the marvellous, the
prevalence of miracle reports among "ignorant" peoples, and the
contradictory claims of rival religions cancelling each other out.
Accurate use of Hume's case reaches the top bands.
CCEA A2 8 202120 marks'Miracles cannot be used as evidence for the existence of God.' Discuss.Show worked answer →
An A2 evaluation question, so argue both sides and judge.
Supporting the claim. Hume's arguments, the contradictory-claims objection,
and the difficulty of ever establishing a violation of natural law make
miracles a weak basis for belief.
Challenging the claim. Swinburne argues that well-attested events that defy
natural explanation can count as evidence, and that Hume's dismissal of
testimony is too sweeping.
A judgement that miracles offer at best cumulative, contested support rather
than proof reaches the higher bands.
Related dot points
- The ontological argument: Anselm's two forms, Descartes's version, the a priori method, and the criticisms of Gaunilo and Kant that existence is not a predicate.
A CCEA A2 8 guide to the ontological argument. Covers Anselm's two forms of the argument, Descartes's version, the a priori method, and the criticisms of Gaunilo (the perfect island) and Kant (that existence is not a predicate), with modern restatements.
- Religious language: the verification and falsification challenges, the via negativa, analogy (Aquinas), symbol (Tillich), and language games (Wittgenstein), as responses to whether talk of God is meaningful.
A CCEA A2 8 guide to religious language. Covers the verification principle and the falsification challenge, and the main responses: the via negativa, analogy (Aquinas), symbol (Tillich) and language games (Wittgenstein), as ways of asking whether talk about God is meaningful.
- Life after death: the body and soul debate (dualism and materialism), the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the body, reincarnation, and arguments for and against survival.
A CCEA A2 8 guide to life after death. Covers the body and soul debate (Plato's dualism, Aristotle and materialism), the immortality of the soul and the Christian resurrection of the body, reincarnation, and the main arguments for and against survival of death.
- The design (teleological) argument: Aquinas's fifth way, Paley's watchmaker analogy, the argument from order and purpose, and the challenges from Hume, Darwin and the problem of evil, with the anthropic principle as a modern restatement.
A CCEA AS 8 guide to the design (teleological) argument. Covers Aquinas's fifth way, Paley's watchmaker analogy, the arguments from order and purpose, and the criticisms from Hume, Darwin and the problem of evil, with the anthropic principle as a modern restatement.
Sources & how we know this
- CCEA GCE Religious Studies (2016) specification — CCEA (2016)