The Notions of Miracle, Testimonial Knowledge, and Certainty: Spinoza and Hume Versus R. Sa‘adyah G’aon and Maimonides

Rozenberg, Jacques J.

doi:10.5840/ipq2024524238

International Philosophical Quarterly

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published on May 27, 2024

Jacques J. Rozenberg

https://doi.org/10.5840/ipq2024524238

The Notions of Miracle, Testimonial Knowledge, and Certainty
Spinoza and Hume Versus R. Sa‘adyah G’aon and Maimonides

Spinoza devoted Chapter VI of the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus to the question of the miracle, which he considers illusory because it constitutes a purely natural phenomenon. However, he attributed to it a social and pedagogical function capable of preserving the power of the sovereign. I will analyze Spinoza’s theory of the miracle and then Hume’s theory, in order to compare them, and thus highlight the specific problems posed by their thesis. I will then analyze Hume’s probabilistic approach, by examining Bayses’ theorem. I will then examine the epistemological status of testimonial knowledge. Finally, I will confront the theories of Spinoza and Hume with R. Sa‘adyah G’aon’s notion of certainty and Maimonides’ conception of miracle

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