Your corn is ripe today; mine will be so tomorrow. 'Tis profitable for us both, that I should labour with you today, and that you should aid me tomorrow.
David HumeRead
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.
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.
More from David Hume
All quotes →Eloquence, at its highest pitch, leaves little room for reason or reflection, but addresses itself entirely to the desires and affections, captivating the willing hearers, and subduing their understanding.
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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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The great end of all human industry is the attainment of happiness
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There is a very remarkable inclination in human nature to bestow on external objects the same emotions which it observes in itself, and to find every where those ideas which are most present to it.
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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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