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Questions tagged [miracles]

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

38 votes
13 answers
3k views

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 ...
Saeed Neamati's user avatar
12 votes
8 answers
6k views

Is watching an amputated limb regrow proof of the supernatural?

A typical challenge skeptics present when confronted with claims of alleged miracles is "why won't God Heal amputees?". But, would that do the job? Consider the following thought experiment: ...
user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
6k views

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, ...
zzzbbx's user avatar
  • 938
2 votes
6 answers
488 views

Is there anything a supernatural entity (e.g. God) could do to irrefutably prove its existence to humans? [closed]

I just posted a question in which I ask if spontaneously regrowing amputated limbs would constitute a proof of the supernatural, and several of the answers have presented interesting objections. This ...
user avatar
2 votes
5 answers
278 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 ...
user avatar
8 votes
4 answers
450 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 ...
That Guy's user avatar
  • 1,953
7 votes
1 answer
218 views

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: ...
user avatar
6 votes
4 answers
1k views

Can a zero prior probability for some theories be justified?

Let us assume the case of psychics and call the hypothesis of a “psychic explanation” H. Bayesian theory tells you to never assign a prior of zero. This is because if P(H) = 0, then no amount of ...
user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
272 views

Does quantum mechanics make miracles merely coincidences?

Part of the reason events like Moses parting the Red Sea or a person tunneling through a wall is considered miraculous is because this is considered a violation of a law of nature. But doesn’t the ...
Baby_philosopher's user avatar
3 votes
7 answers
276 views

Can we assign probabilities to God and is the argument from improbability from Dawkins valid?

Dawkins essentially argues that if one observes some event that seems to be designed because it seems very improbable to have occurred, positing God as a hypothesis doesn't make sense, since God is ...
user avatar
1 vote
3 answers
218 views

Is Hume's famous quote on miracles equivalent to Sagan's extraordinary claim principle?

Hume said "That no testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind, that its falsehood would be more miraculous, than the fact, which it endeavours to ...
user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
129 views

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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