Peter Boghossian on The argument from miracles

Boghossian's treatment of miracle claims is rooted in his central project: teaching people to evaluate the reliability of the processes by which they form beliefs. When someone claims a miracle occurred, Boghossian does not argue about the specific event. Instead, he asks: what method are you using to determine that this event was supernatural rather than natural? Is that method reliable? Has it been tested?

He points out that miracle claims are unfalsifiable in practice. If a prayer appears to be answered, it is counted as a miracle. If it is not answered, the believer invokes God's mysterious plan. No outcome can disconfirm the miracle hypothesis, which means it is not functioning as a genuine explanation but as a presupposition. Boghossian sees this as the hallmark of unreliable epistemology.

Boghossian also emphasizes the social dynamics of miracle claims. People report miracles within communities that expect and reward such reports. The social reinforcement of miracle testimony — the admiration, the sense of special contact with God, the confirmation of group identity — creates powerful incentives to interpret ambiguous events as miraculous, regardless of the actual evidence.