Isn’t Lewis’ argument in that case actually standard probability theory? If you hold a prior of 0 for an event, no finite amount of evidence will change your mind. Miracles aren’t a special class-everything is judged by both priors and evidence. Lewis wasn’t arguing for a separate magisterium or some other case of special pleading, he was saying that there exists enough evidence to convince us miracles have occured unless our prior is 0 or extremely low. The rest of Miracles was devoted to arguing that our prior shouldn’t be especially low.
Hmm, that’s not a bad observation. I still find myself regarding it as an unconvincing argument, but my useful understanding of probability theory is too low to provide a structured reasoning. As I don’t want to argue a point I’m weak on just to signal that I stand apart from Lewis’ beliefs, I’ll accept your point. Thanks.
Isn’t Lewis’ argument in that case actually standard probability theory? If you hold a prior of 0 for an event, no finite amount of evidence will change your mind. Miracles aren’t a special class-everything is judged by both priors and evidence. Lewis wasn’t arguing for a separate magisterium or some other case of special pleading, he was saying that there exists enough evidence to convince us miracles have occured unless our prior is 0 or extremely low. The rest of Miracles was devoted to arguing that our prior shouldn’t be especially low.
Hmm, that’s not a bad observation. I still find myself regarding it as an unconvincing argument, but my useful understanding of probability theory is too low to provide a structured reasoning. As I don’t want to argue a point I’m weak on just to signal that I stand apart from Lewis’ beliefs, I’ll accept your point. Thanks.