"Of Miracles" by David Hume

[Pyrrho]

[robvalue]

Nice

Yes, in fact I'd go further to say that one should never believe any supernatural claim at all, be it manifestation or causation. It seems to me it's impossible to pose any sort of claim with regard to the supernatural as a falsifiable position. We rely not on the observer's testimony, but their assessment of the supernatural. Seeing as no one is qualified to identify the supernatural, it is always reasonable to assume they have allowed their superstitions to run away with them.

I mean, I have people tell me they've seen a ghost. I say to them, how do you know it was a ghost? Guess what they say? "What else could it be?" Great. I'm expected to identify a potentially supernatural phenomena with only their testimony to go by, and if I as much as hint that I can't provide an answer, then they cling to their judgement.

If someone really has found a way to verify the supernatural, they have beaten all of science. Maybe they have. But much more likely, they have not.

[Angrboda]

[nihilistcat]

[Pyrrho]

[nihilistcat]

Yeah but didn't pee wee get busted with his wee wee in his hand in a porn theater in NYC?

[Dystopia]

The problem with claims of miracle is that all of them are equally unverifiable and unfalsifiable - The human brain can provide amazing experiences that feel transcendent and caused by a supernatural entity - I think people who claim miracles are mostly convinced they are right, even though some of them are probably lying because it brings them advantages (like being worshipped or admired inside a conservative religious community). Something that is unfalsifiable is, on principle, useless as evidence for the existence of a supernatural being, and the fact several people who worship diverse supernatural beings equally claim divine intervention doesn't help.

Taking a more philosophical approach I would ask why god helps only some believers but lets others in pain, agony and suffering - Or why does god help bad believers (i.e. murderers, etc.)?

[nihilistcat]

On a serious note, Hume is one of the great one's. His writings on inductive reasoning should be required reading in every high school curriculum.

But not gonna happen anytime soon (our rebel red states seem to be rebelling against the enlightenment, science, and rational thinking, trying to revise history and redefine rationality, to suit its bronze age, knuckle-dragging thinking).

[Pyrrho]

Yeah but didn't pee wee get busted with his wee wee in his hand in a porn theater in NYC?

That is nothing compared with William Lane Craig.  A guy masturbating is nothing compared with an asshole spreading bullshit.

[AFTT47]