Philosophy

Questions tagged [miracles]

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A miracle is an event attributed to a supernatural agent even if there is a naturalistic explanation for the event.

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Why do we need repetitive demonstration to accept miracles happening?

From the highest upvoted answer on Is any aspect of the supernatural testable? What level of proof is possible for the supernatural?: However, you are probably wasting your time on the various ...
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2answers
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Bayes and unknown probabilites: is this reasoning from the failure of explanation a fallacy?

Bayesian probability is an interpretation of the concept of probability, in which, instead of frequency or propensity of some phenomenon, probability is interpreted as reasonable expectation ...
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2answers
110 views

What was Spinoza's take on miracles: what are they are why think they do occur?

What was Spinoza's take on miracles: what are they are why think they do occur? I'm asking because I want to find out and this could, conceivably, be the easiest way. I've read a chapter or two of ...
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5answers
399 views

Is getting 100 Heads in a row from a fair coin a miracle or not?

Suppose a man continues to toss a coin until he gets 100 heads in a row. Suppose the outcomes of all tosses from the 9999901th toss to the 10 millionth toss are all heads and 100 heads in a row didn't ...
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3answers
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Is the idea of the word of God a means to understand human nature, and prayer?

The idea may sound stupidly ridiculous, but I wonder, can the word of God (Christ?) be read as an allegory on how it is that prayer works. If you see John 1:1-3 it says: In the beginning was the ...
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1answer
190 views

What is the point of prayer for theological rationalists?

Of course, there are psychological aspects, you can unify a community or concentrate on your life goals. I feel like Christians try to do something like that when they say that prayer should be a ...
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2answers
263 views

Does Alvin Plantinga's solution to the problem of divine action entail a total denial of the applicability of Newtonian physics to the world?

Alvin Plantinga offers at least two major solutions to the problem of divine action; that physical laws of the Newtonian sort are (often implicitly) qualified to apply only to causally closed systems, ...
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3answers
95 views

Why cannot reports of a miracle overpower all our experience and laws of nature?

A novice, I do not feel prepared yet to, but shall in future, read Hume; please tell me if Hume's originals answer my question. Source: pp 30-31, Philosophy ; A Very Short Introduction (2002) by ...
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7answers
762 views

Are there any proofs that miracles are impossible? [duplicate]

Are there any logical proofs that miracles are impossible? In this case I define a miracle as an interference with nature by a supernatural power. [Edit: Possibly due to confusion about the ...
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5answers
211 views

How does the success of science offer an objection to religious miracles?

I see today many newspaper columnists etc. say that atheism is a faith as much as any religious one. But surely (I say to myself) the success of science makes any religious claim about a supposed ...
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Are miracles compatible with our belief in empirical predictions?

I read the SEP entry on miracles a while ago and plan to take a shot at Hume's Of Miracles soon. Before I get started - I cannot understand how miracles even make sense. Here's my thinking so far: ...
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4answers
299 views

What is a miracle, and why should it influence our metaphysical beliefs?

There's a question on this site regarding what a rational person should accept as a miracle, but the question and its answers seem to take the definition and categorization (as well as consequence) of ...
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14answers
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What should a rational person accept as a miracle?

I was reading through this collection of short essays from theologians, scientists and thinkers each responding to the question "Does the Universe have a purpose?" which was suggested to me in a ...
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God's paradoxes and their implications [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Is the definition of God consistent? As many of you, I've come across a few paradoxes of all sorts, from logic to math, linguistics and so forth. Some of such involve God or, ...