Reid's Challenge to Hume

Challenging Hume's Argument on Miracles

Alternative Challenge to Hume

Rather than focusing on Hume's definition of a miracle, one can challenge his assumption that testimony should only be trusted when there is evidence the testifier is likely correct. Thomas Reid, a contemporary critic of Hume, disputed this premise.

Thomas Reid's Critique

• Reid (1710-1796): A minister in the Church of Scotland and professor at the Universities of Aberdeen and Glasgow.
• Inquiry into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense (1764): Reid's book challenging Hume's assumption.
• Analogy between perception and testimony: Reid argued that trusting testimony is akin to trusting one's senses.

Trusting Testimony vs. Trusting Senses

• Similar Basis: Believing something based on testimony is like believing something based on direct observation.
• Lack of Evidence for Senses: Both Hume and Reid agreed that we lack concrete evidence that our senses are reliable.
• Reid's Challenge: Reid questions Hume's assertion that testimony requires evidence of the testifier's reliability.

Innate Principles

• Shared View: Both Hume and Reid believed in innate principles governing thought and feeling; they thought humans are "hardwired" to think in specific ways.
• Hardwired Trust in Senses: Both believed humans are naturally inclined to trust their senses.
• Reid's Unique Claim: Unlike Hume, Reid posited an innate principle of credulity.

Principle of Credulity

• Definition: An inherent disposition to trust in the truthfulness of others and to believe what they convey to us.