Quotation
Last reviewed:
“A wise person proportions their belief to the evidence.”
David Hume · Empiricism · Enlightenment · 1748
What does it mean?
Belief, on the usual reading, should come in degrees that match the weight of the evidence, including the evidence of how often testimony has misled. A wise mind is a calibrated one, not a mind that has chosen doubt as a style. A rival reading takes the maxim as a ban on strong belief, but strong evidence earns strong belief, and the discipline is the match. The sentence governs the argument about miracles that follows in the same section, and this library's wording only modernises the pronoun he wrote.
Did David Hume really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. Hume wrote: a wise man proportions his belief to the evidence, in the Enquiry, section 10, Of Miracles. The sentence is secure. This version only modernises the pronoun. It governs the miracle argument that follows. Because of that change, the badge stays a paraphrase of his English rather than a claim of verbatim wording.
Where it comes from
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, section 10, 'Of Miracles'
Approximate date: 1748.
How to use it
Give a real degree to a claim that matters this month, a rumour about a school closure in Cardiff, barely, moderately, or strongly, and say what evidence would move it down a step. If nothing would move it, it is not being proportioned, however calm the tone sounds. Proportion is not a performance of hesitation; It is a willingness to let the documents change the number.
A mindset reading
Proportion is not cynicism, and it is not a pose of permanent doubt that feels sophisticated in a meeting. Where the evidence is heavy and consistent, the wise belief is strong. The maxim fails in both directions: credulity that outruns the reports, and a refusal to believe that outruns them too.
Understand the philosophy
In the section on miracles he uses the maxim to weigh a report against the body of experience in favour of the regularities the report would break. The key term is proportion, a match between the degree of belief and the balance of evidence, not a single all-or-nothing switch. The maxim is more general than that controversy, and it is why the section is still cited outside theology. He wrote wise man; This entry says wise person, and the badge records the change.
- knowledge
- mind
FAQ
What does it mean?
Belief, on the usual reading, should come in degrees that match the weight of the evidence, including the evidence of how often testimony has misled. A wise mind is a calibrated one, not a mind that has chosen doubt as a style. A rival reading takes the maxim as a ban on strong belief, but strong evidence earns strong belief, and the discipline is the match. The sentence governs the argument about miracles that follows in the same section, and this library's wording only modernises the pronoun he wrote.
Did David Hume really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. Hume wrote: a wise man proportions his belief to the evidence, in the Enquiry, section 10, Of Miracles. The sentence is secure. This version only modernises the pronoun. It governs the miracle argument that follows. Because of that change, the badge stays a paraphrase of his English rather than a claim of verbatim wording.
Which work is it in?
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, section 10, 'Of Miracles' Approximate date: 1748.