Realist views

• Anthony Flew

  • 1923-2010
  • 'God and Philosophy' 1984
  • Looks at miracles from the view of an atheist (later changed his mind)
• Christianity points to a moment in history
• The life and teaching of Jesus- based upon historical evidence
• Key miracle for Christians: the resurrection of Jesus
• Flew wanted to establish whether the resurrection should be viewed as a historical event
• Flews summary

  • A factual approach is necessary in order for Christians to maintain the idea of the resurrection- through Jesus, God is revealed
  • If a miracle is historical, you have to establish truth in the criteria for all historical claims
  • This is a realist point of view
• Swinburne agrees with Flew

  • A factual approach is necessary for Christianity to maintain the idea of incarnation
• Problem

  • As soon as you insist that a miracle is historical, you are faced with all the normal criteria for establishing the truth of historical claims
• "A wise man proportions his beliefs to his evidence"- David Hume
• Hume had no issue and believed that the claims put forward in the Bible fit the criteria of a miracle, however he was sceptical that they happened
• Realism

  • scientific theories give us true descriptions of the world
  • They give us knowledge of things that exist, but we cannot observe
  • The world exists as it does regardless of what we think
  • A realist sees miracles as real events brought about by God
• Scientific realists

  • The best scientific theories give us true descriptions of the world
  • The world is 'mind-independent', meaning it exists the way it does regardless of what we think
• Mind-independent- something exists the way it does, regardless of what we think or believe to be true
• Religious realists

  • Miracles are a part of what happens in the world
  • Brought forward by God
  • Miracles are evidence of God's existence
  • True despite the fact that we do not understand everything about miracles
• The Catholic Tradition

  • Miracles invite a belief in God and strengthen faith
  • Satisfy people's curiosity for magic or to abolish evil
• Congregation for the causes of saints

  • Investigates accounts of miracles performed by those who are considered for canonisation
  • Vatican ascribes sainthood to people who have been proven to perform miracles after they've died
• Mother Teresa

  • Died in 1997
  • Cured an Indian woman of a cancerous stomach tumour and a Brazilian man of a viral brain infection
• A miracle is something that could not have happened by nature alone
• "A miracle is a transgression of a law of nature. By a particular volition by a deity- or some invisible agent"- David Hume
• Hume's main inductive argument against miracles

  1. The more improbable the claim, the more reliable the witness must be in order to be believed
  2. The most improbable event would go against the laws of nature, which contradicts the claim that it even happened
  3. The reported event is maximally improbable
  4. The probability that the witness is lying or was mistaken is always greater than the probability that the event happened
• "No human testimony can have such force as to prove a miracle"- David Hume