Tuesday, March 31, 2020

On Miracles by David Hume Essay Example

On Miracles by David Hume Essay David Hume’s essay On Miracles is a strong refutation of supernatural phenomena, often linked to divine intervention. Hume states boldly that even religious events such as miracles should be judged on the basis of empirical evidence. He thus makes evidence the chief determinant of credibility. The credibility of a claimed miracle will increase in proportion to the reliability, method and number of witnesses. Hence Hume dismisses outright any kind of revelatory recounting of miracles. Take say, the example of the resurrection of Christ three days after his death. Though it is an important miracle in Christian theology, it fails the rigorous standards of empiricism that Hume mandates. We only have references to the event in the scriptures, the writing of which happened much later than the event – sometimes centuries later. On top of this, those who witnessed Christ’s resurrection were invariably the faithful, who wished that it were so. Moreover, even if a claimed miracle is attested by numerous witnesses, its veracity becomes dubious if a greater number testify the opposite. A major thrust of Hume’s thesis is that the burden of proof lies heavily upon those claiming miracles. Hume defines a miracle as that event which has defined laws of nature. As a consequence witnesses of miracles are required to bring high credibility to their evidence. But this is easier said than done, as there are inherent mitigating factors. Firstly, since an overwhelming majority of people are religiously inclined and have accepted miracles as acts of God, their psyche would lack the requisite scepticism and objectivity in evaluating a claimed miracle. Second, individuals do not merely perceive events through their senses but through the lens of their cognitive faculties. Our cognitive faculties are trained and cultivated through our education and exposure to various life experiences. Since there is a great deal of variability among humans in this regard, no two individuals would perceive an event in the same way. We will write a custom essay sample on On Miracles by David Hume specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on On Miracles by David Hume specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on On Miracles by David Hume specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Hume also articulates the ‘argument from miracles’. Since every religion claims its own set of miracles, the devotee to a religion believes in one set to the exclusion of the rest. The same is done by the practitioner of another religion. So, for a neutral observer, every miracle has more disbelievers than believers. This begs the question if there is an element of fanaticism behind these beliefs. In my view, if I have to pick one flaw in the essay, it would be the element of circularity in one of the arguments. Hume recognizes miracles as those events that are exceptions to the natural order. By requiring testimony of huge numbers of people separated in time and place, Hume somewhat pre-empts any potential claims of miracles. This is so because, historically, no miracle had ever been evidenced in such scale, and nor are they likely to happen in the future. Hence Hume’s imposition of enough satisfactory evidence to compensate for the highly exceptional of the miraculous event is a circular argument. On Miracles was published circa 1748. It was a key period in European history, as the hold of religious superstition was giving way to scientific understanding. Hume’s essay is an important contribution to the literature of the Enlightenment. Although there is deficit of terminology in some of Hume’s arguments, they largely remain meritorious. In the two and half centuries since Hume’s essay, philosophical vocabulary is considerably enhanced and can rearticulate Hume’s thesis with greater cogency. Interestingly, while belief in miracles is not as rampant today as it was in the early 18th century, a great portion of humanity still holds such views. Exposure to Hume’s rigorous tour of logic will help move them toward rationality. David Hume’s essay On Miracles is a strong refutation of supernatural phenomena, often linked to divine intervention. Hume states boldly that even religious events such as miracles should be judged on the basis of empirical evidence. He thus makes evidence the chief determinant of credibility. The credibility of a claimed miracle will increase in proportion to the reliability, method and number of witnesses. Hence Hume dismisses outright any kind of revelatory recounting of miracles. Take say, the example of the resurrection of Christ three days after his death. Though it is an important miracle in Christian theology, it fails the rigorous standards of empiricism that Hume mandates. We only have references to the event in the scriptures, the writing of which happened much later than the event – sometimes centuries later. On top of this, those who witnessed Christ’s resurrection were invariably the faithful, who wished that it were so. Moreover, even if a claimed miracle is .

Saturday, March 7, 2020

The Year of the Sheep - Hitsuji doshi

The Year of the Sheep - Hitsuji doshi 2015 is the year of the sheep. The Japanese word for sheep is hitsuji. The kanji character for sheep came from the shape of a sheeps head with two horns, four legs and a tail. Click here to learn the kanji character for sheep. Lamb is kohitsuji, shepherd is hitsujikai, wool is youmou. Sheep are rare in Japan since the climate of Japan, which is very humid, is not appropriate to raise sheep. Most wool and mutton are imported from Australia, New Zealand or Taiwan. The sheeps bleat is mee mee. Click this link to learn more about animal sounds. The Japanese have a custom of sending New Year Cards, called Nengajou. Most people use nengajou as sold by the Japan Postal Service. Each nengajou has a lottery number printed on the bottom of the card, and people who receive the cards can win prizes. The winning numbers are usually published in mid January. Although the prizes are rather small, people enjoy it as a part of New Years celebrations. Click this link to read my article, Writing New Years Cards. The Nengajou also come with a pre-printed postage stamp. There are 8 varieties of pre-printed stamps that one can choose from this year. The designs include New Years decorations, an eto animal (sheep in 2015), Disney characters, and so on. One of the stamp designs, which is a picture of a sheep, is becoming the talk of the Internet. Eto refers to the Chinese zodiac symbols. Unlike the Western Zodiac, which is divided into 12 months, the Asian Zodiac is divided into 12 years. Therefore, the last time a sheep appeared as an eto was in 2003. The stamp of 2003s negajou was a picture of a sheep, which is knitting. The picture of the sheep on 2015s stamp is wearing a scarf. There is an explanation on the Japanese Postal Service site that says, ç · ¨Ã£  ¿Ã£ â€¹Ã£ â€˜Ã£   Ã£  £Ã£ Å¸Ã£Æ'žãÆ'•ãÆ' ©Ã£Æ' ¼Ã£ Å'Ã¥ ®Å'æˆ Ã£ â€"㠁 ¾Ã£ â€"㠁Ÿã€‚ Amikake datta mafuraa ga kansei shimashita. (The scarf, which was in the middle of being made twelve years ago, is now finished.) This is the first time that the Japanese Postal Service made a design linked with a previous eto animal. They are hoping that people have fun with this year’s nengajou, and also fondly look back on the time that has passed. Like the astrological zodiac there are all sorts of things which influence individual people. The Japanese believe that people who are born in the same animal year share similar personality and character. People born in the year of the sheep are elegant, highly accomplished in the arts, passionate about nature. Check what year you were born in and what kind of personality your animal sign has. Twelve zodiac animals are the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and boar. Compared to the other zodiac animals such as the snake (hebi) or horse (uma), there are not many expressions including the word sheep. Hitsuji no you (like sheep) means docile, sheepish. Hitsuji-gumo (sheep cloud) is a fluffy cloud, floccus. ç ¾Å Ã©   ­Ã§â€¹â€"肉 Youtou-Kuniku (sheeps head, dogs meat) is one of the Yoji-jukugo which means using a better name to sell inferior goods, crying wine and selling vinegar.