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Thomas Gilby OP wrote, "Civilisation is formed by men locked together in argument." Our hope in this blog is to help generate a good healthy argument by challenging common assumptions about the question of God's existence. This blog is a resource for my students--and anyone who is interested--studying topics in the philosophy of relgion at A Level and beyond.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Are miracles philosophically significant?


Pick up any philosophy text on the philosophy of religion, and you are likely to find entries on "miracles." Often, these articles will ask, "are miracles religiously significant?" In other words, can miracles be proven to be from God? And if not, what possible significance can they have for religious believers? After all, if you can't prove that a miracle really is from God, aren't you better off taking the safer path and keeping a bit of healthy skepticism about them?

Philosophers who take this view--that miracles are either unknowable or impossible--include Hume, Spinoza, Schleiermacher and Flew. They represent types of philosophy called empiricism and rationalism. In a nutshell, empiricism is the belief that you only have true knowledge if what you claim to know can be verified by sense experience. Rationalism is the belief that you only have true knowledge if it can be demonstrated by logical steps.But other philosophers and theologians, such as William Lane Craig (see link) turn the question around: are miracles philosophically significant? The affection between two young lovers, for example, may not be philosophically significant. This does not mean that the reality of love is any less significant simply because philosophy can not quantify it in its totality. There is an aspect of love that transcends the rational process, like elements of beauty, music and poetry.

Miracles may only make sense in the context of faith (see Faith & Miracles). Just because miracles can not be contained by a philosophical investigation may point to a limitation in philosophy, and not necessarily in religious belief.

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