The No Miracles Argument For Scientific Realism

David Hume was a British empiricist, meaning he believed all knowledge comes through the senses. He argued against the existence of innate ideas, stating that humans have knowledge only of things which they directly experience. These claims have a major impact on his argument against the existence of miracles, and in this essay I will explain and critically evaluate this argument.

Critically assess the view that a concept of miracles is inconsistent with a belief in a benevolent God. (35 marks)

Mexico is the eleventh most populated country in the world with a $2.2 trillion economy (CIA, 2017). It is also an extremely popular tourist destination for Americans and Europeans alike. Moreover, its people have had the highest average annual hours worked in the world every year for the last three years (OECD, 2017). Despite this, their unemployment rate is estimated to be 3.6% and their underemployment at 25% (CIA, 2017). I am going to expand on this country’s issues with corruption, organized crime, violence, the economy, and how I assess their future will affects us here in the United States.

Ernest Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephant is about a couple, the American and a female named Jig debating about an operation Jig should have. Throughout the story, Jig is distant, the American is rational. Although the story never explicitly states what it is that the couple is arguing, if you really think about it, you’d realize that the tough situation where they are trying to make a decision, keeping their unborn child or having an abortion based on several different suggestions described. The reader must interpret their dialogue and body language to infer their backgrounds and their attitudes with respect to the situation at hand, and their attitudes toward one another. What the American thinks is best solution to their pregnancy,

“Does Science Make the Belief in God Obsolete?” by Kenneth Miller and Christopher Hitchens debate with no date of the discussion.

In Rick Wingrove’s article he takes scientific materialism as his worldview, arguing that most of the claims of God have been disproved. He claims that science has been closing the gap between what we know and what do do not and that before science became advanced, people used God to fill the gaps of what they could not explain. Suggesting that science will grow to such an extent that it will eventually close all the gaps until there is no need for God. However this belief is completely false. In Wingrove’s paper he writes “I am atheist because I love science.” But there is no scientific theory that defines love. He has just made a philosophical statement and not a scientific one. Claiming that science and explain everything is simply an ignorant statement. For example, theres is no scientific law that tells an individual to be honest or true in their findings, it is a philosophical argument. Science is undoubtedly beneficial to the this world in terms of advances in the medical field and much more, but the ultimate question of life is going to be one of meaning, purpose and loving relationships which will not be derived form a scientific single vision of life but rather from a theological view. David Berlinski, one of the worlds leading physicist and an agnostic, wrote a book titled the The Devil’s Delusions. In it he writes;

M. Night Shyamalan’s apocalyptic thriller The Happening depicts an immediate threat to humanity in which people are attacked by air-borne substances. The unknown substance re-wires the brains of those infected causing them to perform violent acts of self harm that result in mass suicide across the North-Eastern region of the United States. The culprit? Plants. The Happening endorses the outrageous possibility that as a mechanism of self defense, plants release chemicals or toxins into the air with the intent to kill humans in response to years of pollution and global warming.

“Mankind’s imagination has always been excited by the possibilities of unknown regions” (Nickell, 109). In the article “Mysterious Entities of the Pacific Northwest Part 1”, Joe Nickell explains the possibilities of pseudoscience, a presented scientific belief that is not yet scientifically valid, as well as the possibility of hoaxes. While there have been many claimed sightings of paranormal activity such as Bigfoot, Ghosts and the Loch Ness Monster, there has not been evidence to prove these claims as real. Almost everybody has heard their share of ghosts stories and the myths behind Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. These stories are universally shared, and recently, people have provided evidence claiming to have seen such mysterious

In Language of God, Francis Collins tries to create a balance between the different views on the origins of the Universe. He responds positively to his own question on the possibility for a satisfying harmony between scientific and spiritual worldviews in the introduction and endeavors to highlight in the rest of his book that a person can be a scientist and also a believer concurrently. Francis Collins grew up in a family without religious views and although a member of his church choir, he was instructed not to learn anything more than music. Growing up, he developed a keen interest in Science particularly Chemistry not so much in Biology because he felt it involved studying mindless facts. He moved to college and afterwards decided to get

In chapter nine, The Scientific Revolution: Rationalism and the Modern Worldview, Wells discusses the changes the Scientific Revolution brought about in Europe. Wells starts of the chapter by saying that any time people hear the world “revolution,” it is usually tied together with change of some kind. One of the ideas, that changed in the Scientific Revolution was the idea humanism. Humanism was always presents in secularity; however, it was not realized until between the Renaissance and the Reformation, and noticed in the Scientific Revolution. The Scientific Revolution was filled with many famous scientist who changes the ways of thinking during the time, and their ideas challenged the church and the traditional ways. However, these

THE SCIENTIFIC THEORY: aka I’ve scoured the net, and yet none have mentioned the following theory pertaining to The Retribution of Mara Dyer

Climate deniers are accused of practicing pseudoscience, as are intelligent design creationists, astrologers, UFOlogists, parapsychologists, practitioners of alternative medicine, and often anyone who strays far from the scientific mainstream. The boundary problem between science and pseudoscience, in fact, is notoriously fraught with definitional disagreements because the categories are too broad and fuzzy on the edges, and the term “pseudoscience” is subject to adjectival abuse against any claim one happens to dislike for any reason. In his 2010 book Nonsense on Stilts (University of Chicago Press), philosopher of science Massimo Pigliucci concedes that there is “no litmus test,” because “the boundaries separating science, nonscience, and

The scientific revolution had arisen new ideas to the scientific community that would have an impact to many religious communities. The creation of new tools allowed human to test ideas and theories that would confirm or deny previous assumptions. Pseudoscience was a form of science that would introduce many absurd ideas that could be denied with current evidence. However, many scientific theories and assumptions are fallible and could be disproven and thus created pseudoscience. Michael Shermer wrote an article that explains the main problem with pseudoscience as he states, “The boundary problem between science and pseudoscience, in fact, is notoriously fraught with definitional disagreements because the categories are too broad and fuzzy

In the presentation, we briefly talked about the stereotypes we have of those who display an excess of faith. I acknowledge that I think the mother has a knowledge gap, is being unrealistic and is being faithful at the expense of her child’s health. But what of miracles? Science is not 100% and neither is anything else. There are indeed exceptions to the rule, and their occurrence makes decisions even more difficult. But, how can one take away the hope of a miracle to emphasize the reality provided claimed by science?

The Miracle of God and the Truth of Science: Understanding Two Stories at Once in Life of Pi