University of Leeds Centre for Philosophy of Religion and Theology

Activity: Attending or organising conference/seminar/workshop › Seminar/workshop

Description

A Grammatical Investigation of Miracles

Wittgenstein claims that religious belief does not stand on evidence, that only those with a religious point of view can see an event as a miracle, and that experiencing a miracle can influence a person towards religion. This faces two challenges. First, if miracles can only be seen from a religious point of view, then suggesting that a miracle can influence a person towards religion implies that a person can see a miracle before having a religious point of view. Second, if religious belief is not based on evidence, then those who report believing because of evidence are confused about their beliefs in a way we would not expect. I argue that these are not challenges to Wittgenstein’s account but symptoms of our misunderstanding of grammar and his distinction between relative and absolute miracles.
Period5 Dec 2024
Event typeAcademic seminar/workshop
LocationLeeds, United KingdomShow on map
Degree of RecognitionNational

Keywords

  • Wittgenstein
  • Miracles
  • grammar
  • theology
  • belief
  • faith
  • doxastic
  • fideism
  • hinge epistemology

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