...man, even I can write more clearly than that. Jefferson said it much better (and he was wrong):
I would sooner believe that two Yankee professors would lie than that stones would fall from heaven.
If you want the formal general version rather than the concrete example: “To prove a miracle, finding out your proof is false must be weirder than the miracle.”—still bad writing, but better than Hume’s.
Incidentally, this is a good principle. I think. (How would you check?) There are a few things I believe because the alternative involves delusions so weird I expect human brains can’t support them and keep functioning, even given the existence of some really weird delusions.
Edit: Jefferson might not actually have said it, it’s unclear.
...man, even I can write more clearly than that. Jefferson said it much better (and he was wrong):
If you want the formal general version rather than the concrete example: “To prove a miracle, finding out your proof is false must be weirder than the miracle.”—still bad writing, but better than Hume’s.
Incidentally, this is a good principle. I think. (How would you check?) There are a few things I believe because the alternative involves delusions so weird I expect human brains can’t support them and keep functioning, even given the existence of some really weird delusions.
Edit: Jefferson might not actually have said it, it’s unclear.