The philosophy of miracles [[electronic resource] /] / David Corner

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910789441203321
• Autore: Corner David
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: London ; ; New York, : Continuum, c2007
• ISBN: 1-283-12255-3; 9786613122551; 1-4411-3130-2
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (175 p.)
• Collana: Continuum studies in philosophy
• Disciplina: 212
• Soggetti: Miracles; Philosophical theology
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Introduction -- Conceptions of the miraculous -- Supernaturalistic conceptions of the miraculous -- Teleology and the miraculous -- Contextual criteria for the miraculous -- Miracles and the laws of nature -- The logical impossibility of a violation -- Violations as nonrepeatable counterinstances to natural law -- Objection #1: nonrepeatable counterinstances as falsifying a law -- Objection #2: identifying nonrepeatable counterinstances -- Objection #3: counterinstance as anomaly -- A supernaturalistic conception of natural law -- Identifying supernatural intrusions : an objection -- The concept of supernatural cause as empty -- A supernaturalistic response -- Miracles and causes -- What is a supernatural cause? -- Nature as causally open -- Trans-domain laws -- Dualism and the supernatural -- Supernatural explanation -- Nowell-Smith and predictive expansion -- Do explanations always rely on laws? -- Paul Dietl's response to Nowell-Smith's challenge -- Analysis of Dietl's response -- Problems with Dietl's response -- Divine agency in religious practice -- Miracle as basic action -- Must 'miracle' be conceived teleologically? -- Divine agency without supernatural causation -- Miracles and interaction -- Miracles and natural causes -- Miracle, mystery, and the God-of-the-gaps -- Miracle and divine agency -- The world as God's body -- Basic mental acts -- Psychokinesis as basic act -- Non-basic divine agency ; -- Divine agency and non-determined processes -- The causal joint -- Locating divine basic actions : how far down should we go? -- Divine manipulation of microprocesses : an alternative -- Arguments for divine basic actions at the macro level -- Quantum gaps and special divine agency -- A context for miracles -- Thankability and the miraculous -- Thankability and the subjective : an objection -- Due thankability -- Due thankability and apologetic -- Miracle, coincidence, and counterfactual -- Counterfactuals and basic actions.
• Sommario/riassunto: Philosophers who wish to argue for the rationality of belief in God frequently employ a 'god-of-the-gaps' strategy. This strategy consists in trying to find a phenomenon that cannot be explained by natural science, and insisting that it can be explained only by reference to the activity of God. Philosophical discussion of miracles usually revolves around the attempt to link a miracle to God in just this way. One of the problems with this approach is that it is very difficult to identify anything as being forever beyond the power of science to explain. Science continues to advance upon the terr