more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
Miracles, or the extraordinary operations of God, none the less belong within the general order; they are in conformity with the principal designs of God, and consequently are included in the notion of this universe, which is the result of those designs.
Gist of Idea
Miracles are extraordinary operations by God, but are nevertheless part of his design
Source
Gottfried Leibniz (Letters to Antoine Arnauld [1686], 1686.05)
Book Ref
Leibniz,Gottfried: 'Philosophical Writings', ed/tr. Parkinson,G.H.R. [Dent 1973], p.54
A Reaction
Some philosophers just make up things to suit themselves. What possible grounds can he have for claiming this? At best this is tautological, saying that, by definition, if anything at all happens, it must be part of God's design. Move on to Hume…
| 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] |