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5 Med., Health Care & Phil. 1 (2002)

handle is hein.journals/medhcph5 and id is 1 raw text is: #A Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 5: 1-9, 2002.
© 2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.
Scientific Contribution
Miracles and the limits of medical knowledge*
William E. Stempsey
Department of Philosophy, College of the Holy Cross, One College Street, Worcester MA 01610-2395, USA
(E-mail: wstempsey@ holycross.edu)
Abstract. In considering whether medical miracles occur, the limits of epistemology bring us to confront our
metaphysical worldview of medicine and nature in general. This raises epistemological questions of a higher order.
David Hume's understanding of miracles as violations of the laws of nature assumes that nature is completely
regular, whereas doctrines such as C. S. Peirce's tychism hold that there is an element of absolute chance in the
workings of the universe. Process philosophy gives yet another view of the working of nature. Physicians have
no epistemological grounds for declaring any cure to be miraculous. Miracles are theological (or philosophical)
entities, and not medical entities. All physicians can do is to determine whether or not a cure is scientifically
inexplicable according to the current epistemological standards of medical science. As these standards change,
what is currently unexplainable may become explainable. However, we can also come to realize that our current
explanations are in fact unsatisfactory. Our justifications of knowledge claims about miracles will depend on our
views about determinism and indeterminism. If the universe is not a deterministic one, we should be open to the
possibility of encountering what appear to us as sui generis events. These would not be violations of immutable
laws of nature, but manifestations of the true workings of nature, and certainly causes for wonder.
Key words: determinism, epistemology, Hume, laws of nature, metaphysics, miracle, Peirce, Whitehead

I. Introduction
Talk of miracles in medicine has become common-
place. One survey found that twenty-one percent
of publications from children's hospitals contained
articles that emphasized the accomplishments and
potential benefits of the hospital in terms of miracles
We need only to look at a few examples to see the bent
of these articles. We're gearing up for another year of
miracles for children. The happy kids and families
at the reunion are a reminder of the miracles brought
about by this special blend of technology and tender
loving care Most blatantly, one hospital magazine
cover proclaimed to its readers, Expect a Miracle
(Manning and Schneiderman, 1996). Since miracle
is not understood in any univocal way, and since the
knowledge most patients have about the capabilities of
modern medical technologies is not sophisticated, such
advertising can create quite different expectations for
patients and physicians. We might well ask whether
such talk about miracles is leading people to have false
expectations about the capabilities of medical practice.
Philosophical discussions of miracles, following
David Hume, have tended to focus on epistemological
issues. That is, they investigate the sort of evidence

that would be required to show that a miracle has taken
place. In this article, I will examine the relationship of
miracles and medical epistemology. I will first discuss
the concept of a miracle and the epistemological turn.
Next, I will argue that both religious and epistemolo-
gical issues are essential in any analysis of miracle,
and illustrate this with a case of a cure attributed to
the intercession of a saint. I will then argue that the
epistemological turn should not be allowed to obscure
the more foundational metaphysical assumptions that
physicians and patients hold about miracles. Finally, I
will show the importance of this for medical practice.
II. The concept of miracle
2.1 God and nature
I take Richard Swinburne's definition to capture the
essential features of a miracle. A miracle is an event
of an extraordinary kind, brought about by a god, and
of religious significance (Swinburne, 1970, p. 1).
Different interpretations of the three facets of this
definition can lead to disagreements about whether a
particular event constitutes a miracle. The god, for

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