I find myself entirely unsympathetic to the idea the supernatural. Should it turn out that the world can more completely be described as having aspects which are natural and other aspects which are supernatural no one would be more surprised than myself.
In trying to understand what motivates the idea of the supernatural the best that I can do is to go back to a mind/matter dichotomy. It seems so silly to do this but I guess the idea of a divine supernatural is the idea that everything is ultimately but an idea in God's mind. Whatever order we think we find in the world is put there by a being fully capable of setting aside that order at any moment. So the idea of the supernatural is the idea of a supreme agency which sustains a reliable, natural world except when it over rules it instead.
To take this idea seriously you couldn't believe that it is possible to arrive at the essential nature of anything. It would be to forever humble oneself to the caprice of something divine, all powerful and ultimately unknowable to beings like ourselves who are but products of that mind.
But why in the world would anyone take the mind/matter division as essential? It isn't natural and to my mind the real world is the natural world. I have taken the position of being a methodological naturalist in debating theists but really that is a dodge for me. It is just me being overly polite, tip toeing around the children for fear that the knowledge their Santa doesn't exist would just devastate them. I don't do it to win arguments with them. Really, it is just a way of offering them a crutch by which they can participate in the modern world.
You can mark me down as a dye-in-the-wool naturalist and a real world advocate. I may still tip toe around the delusions of others to be polite. But for me the natural world is the real world. Period. The correct analysis of the mind/matter distinction is to realize our consciousness (minds) put us in touch with the real world, albeit imperfectly. The limitations of any particular form of consciousness color the world we perceive in ways consistent with our kind. In no way does mind, divine or otherwise, create the world which we detect. The world or "matter" is primary, perception or "mind" is secondary.
In trying to understand what motivates the idea of the supernatural the best that I can do is to go back to a mind/matter dichotomy. It seems so silly to do this but I guess the idea of a divine supernatural is the idea that everything is ultimately but an idea in God's mind. Whatever order we think we find in the world is put there by a being fully capable of setting aside that order at any moment. So the idea of the supernatural is the idea of a supreme agency which sustains a reliable, natural world except when it over rules it instead.
To take this idea seriously you couldn't believe that it is possible to arrive at the essential nature of anything. It would be to forever humble oneself to the caprice of something divine, all powerful and ultimately unknowable to beings like ourselves who are but products of that mind.
But why in the world would anyone take the mind/matter division as essential? It isn't natural and to my mind the real world is the natural world. I have taken the position of being a methodological naturalist in debating theists but really that is a dodge for me. It is just me being overly polite, tip toeing around the children for fear that the knowledge their Santa doesn't exist would just devastate them. I don't do it to win arguments with them. Really, it is just a way of offering them a crutch by which they can participate in the modern world.
You can mark me down as a dye-in-the-wool naturalist and a real world advocate. I may still tip toe around the delusions of others to be polite. But for me the natural world is the real world. Period. The correct analysis of the mind/matter distinction is to realize our consciousness (minds) put us in touch with the real world, albeit imperfectly. The limitations of any particular form of consciousness color the world we perceive in ways consistent with our kind. In no way does mind, divine or otherwise, create the world which we detect. The world or "matter" is primary, perception or "mind" is secondary.
