Supernatural

The supernatural (Latin: super- "exceeding" + nature) comprises forces and phenomena which are beyond the realm of current scientific understanding, and which may actually directly contradict conventional scientific understandings.

Arguments against supernaturality

While the exact definition varies, any concept of supernaturality requires that supernatural phenomena are not accessible by the scientific method. Contrary to common prejudices science is not restricted to experiments in a laboratory, but can be based on any form of experience. If a phenomenon is by definition outside of the realm of science, it therefore cannot be experienced and has by definition no impact on our lives. Our lifespan, for example, does affect us and any factors increasing or decreasing it can be studied scientifically. This view is supported by the immense success of science. Scientific medicine proved much more successful in increasing the lifespan of people, than anything based on supernaturality.

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Our knowledge of the world is continuously increasing. Some phenomena, once assumed supernatural, can today be explained by scientific theories, while others could be dismissed as myths. Volcanoes were once considered deities and natural calamities the actions of gods and people sacrificed animals or even other people to please their gods. If our current understanding is the gauge of supernaturality, its realm is ever decreasing and very subjective.

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Science does not claim that phenomena contradicting our intuitive view of the world are impossible to occur. Scientist study such phenomena every day. In fact some scientific theories, such as quantum mechanics, are much more counterintuitive than any supernatural concept. But many claimed supernatural phenomena vanish when they are closely examined. There have been, for example, various studies on astrology, most of them with negative result. A single positive result cannot outweigh many negative ones, as it can be expected by mere chance.

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Supernaturality is a remnant of a static world view. It comes from a time when the growth of human knowledge was barely noticeable within a human lifetime. The Aristotelian Mechanics were considered valid for more than a thousand years. At that time human knowledge seemed static and anything exceeding it seemed to be from a different world. But even today some people still try to describe the world by unchanging "laws of nature" and declare anything beyond this framework supernatural and inaccessible to human understanding.

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If a bush suddenly burst out in flames, and the fire would not consume it, a scientist would not call it supernatural, nor would he deny that this is happening, but he would curiously examine it.

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