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It forms a strong presumption against all supernatural and miraculous relations, that they are observed chiefly to abound among ignorant and barbarous nations; or if a civilized people has ever given admission to any of them, that people will be found to have received them from ignorant and barbarous ancestors.
David Hume
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote challenges the credibility of supernatural claims based on their prevalence among less educated societies.

David Hume suggests that the tendency to believe in supernatural events is more common in uneducated or 'barbarous' cultures. He posits that even if a civilized society entertains such beliefs, they likely inherited them from their less civilized predecessors, thereby questioning the validity and rationality of supernatural claims.

Themes

SupernaturalBeliefIgnoranceCivilizationRationality

In practice

Example use cases

In a philosophy class discussing epistemology, one might reference Hume's quote to argue against the credibility of supernatural claims.

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All that belongs to human understanding, in this deep ignorance and obscurity, is to be sceptical, or at least cautious, and not to admit of any hypothesis whatever, much less of any which is supported by no appearance of probability.
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To have recourse to the veracity of the supreme Being, in order to prove the veracity of our senses, is surely making a very unexpected circuit.
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