Science and Miracles

The idea of the miracle, which was effectively criticised by David Hume, it seems to me is also vulnerable to normal scientific curiosity. Even if it were acknowledged that some kind of miracle actually occured, the virgin birth say, this does not mean that scientific questions would stop at that point. Personally I would want to know more about the details of this miraculous event; at what stage of development did the foetus magically appear in the womb? What happened to the existing tissue that was displaced by the appearance of the foetus? Did the umbilical cord appear all at once or was there a process in which it grew out of the foetus and connected itself to Mary's circulatory system? It seems to me that asking these kind of questions, whilst not reducing the astounding nature of this purported event, transform it from a miracle into a pataphysical but nevertheless analysable, event.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• miracle
• science
• religion
• faith
• belief
• christianity
• Richard
• Dawkins
• David
• Hume
• Virgin
• birth
• parthenogenesis

[SuperBeanson]

Good vid, good points

Further- even if the event (putative miracle) under scrutiny were shown conclusively to be a suspension of the natural order this would not in itself prove a deity. As Hume himself says- one can infer nothing about a cause from an effect.

As advanced technology appears miraculous to primitive societies- even if a God like being decended on us in fire caution sholud be advised before rushing to worship what might after all turn out to be advanced aliens