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Full Idea
Miracles should not be increased beyond necessity.
Gist of Idea
Allow no more miracles than are necessary
Source
Gottfried Leibniz (Letters to Des Bosses [1715], 1716.05.29)
Book Ref
Leibniz,Gottfried: 'Philosophical Essays', ed/tr. Arlew,R /Garber,D [Hackett 1989], p.205
A Reaction
Leibniz defends miracles (where Spinoza dismisses them). This remark is, of course, an echo of Ockham's Razor, that 'entities' should not be multiplied beyond necessity. It is hard to disagree with his proposal. Zero might be result, though.
| 20716 | False prophets will perform wonders to deceive even the elect [Mark] |
| 5974 | People report seeing through rocks, or over the horizon, or impossibly small works [Plutarch] |
| 7902 | The Buddha made flowers float in the air, to impress people, and make them listen [Mahavastu] |
| 4827 | Priests reject as heretics anyone who tries to understand miracles in a natural way [Spinoza] |
| 4868 | Trying to prove God's existence through miracles is proving the obscure by the more obscure [Spinoza] |
| 12571 | If miracles aim at producing belief, it is plausible that their events are very unusual [Locke] |
| 5030 | Miracles are extraordinary operations by God, but are nevertheless part of his design [Leibniz] |
| 12909 | Everything, even miracles, belongs to order [Leibniz] |
| 12784 | Allow no more miracles than are necessary [Leibniz] |
| 2227 | A miracle violates laws which have been established by continuous unchanging experience, so should be ignored [Hume] |
| 2228 | All experience must be against a supposed miracle, or it wouldn't be called 'a miracle' [Hume] |
| 2229 | To establish a miracle the falseness of the evidence must be a greater miracle than the claimed miraculous event [Hume] |
| 7636 | It can't be more rational to believe in natural laws than miracles if the laws are not rational [Ishaq on Hume] |