Carl Sagan on The argument from miracles
Sagan demanded extraordinary evidence for extraordinary claims and found miracle testimony consistently lacking.
Sagan's principle — 'extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence' — became the standard sceptical response to miracle claims. He did not argue that miracles are logically impossible, but that the evidence offered for them is never proportionate to the magnitude of the claim.
In The Demon-Haunted World (1995), Sagan surveyed the history of miracle claims, prophecies, faith healing, and apparitions, finding a consistent pattern: the claims are always impressive, and the evidence is always anecdotal, uncontrolled, and unrepeatable. When investigated rigorously, the miracles either vanish or have mundane explanations.
Sagan was sympathetic to the human desire for wonder and transcendence but argued that science provides genuine wonders — the age of the universe, the evolution of life, the structure of DNA — that require no supernatural explanation and are far more awe-inspiring than ancient miracle stories.
“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”
“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: if we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle.”