HKB
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Often appears with: the nature and attributes of God · social sciences vs religion · reason and the intellect · miracles · determinism
Usually: argument (1) · skepticism (1)
“In order to say that certain things are supernatural, it is necessary to have the sentiment that a natural order of things exists, that is to say, that the phenomena of the universe are bound together by necessary relations, called laws.” Émile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life · insight
He claims the idea of the supernatural depends on belief in a natural order governed by laws, which arose with positive sciences; before that, “miracles” were seen as marvels within nature’s will-driven contingency.
there were, and could be, only spiritual relations, he thought he was working as a rationalist, and saw nothing in this universal animism which could be offensive to the intellect. Moreover, the idea of the supernatural, as we understand it, dates only from to-day; in fact, it presupposes the contrary idea, of which it is the negation; but this idea is not at all primitive. In order to say that certain things are su…