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Supernatural isn't a useful concept
#28
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept
Whether the concept of the supernatural is useful depends on how it's defined, and I think it's one of those words that people conceptualize in different ways. I think both "natural" and "supernatural" are inelegant family resemblance concepts that can't be distilled down to a set of necessary and sufficient sufficient conditions. Maybe "natural" could, if we had a final theory of physics, but for the time being it has to do our current understanding of fundamental physics, the expectation that entropy will continue to obtain in future theories, and that things like agent causation and retro-causality won't. 

I think the concept of the supernatural is useful, but only because humans seem to start out with tendencies for irrational patterns of thought, like promiscuous teleology. It's helpful to label ways of modeling the world that don't correspond to anything real.
A Gemma is forever.
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Messages In This Thread
Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Rhizomorph13 - October 23, 2016 at 7:09 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Edwardo Piet - October 23, 2016 at 7:25 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by brewer - October 23, 2016 at 7:48 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Edwardo Piet - October 23, 2016 at 7:49 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Edwardo Piet - October 23, 2016 at 7:52 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by ApeNotKillApe - October 23, 2016 at 8:00 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Edwardo Piet - October 23, 2016 at 8:10 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by ApeNotKillApe - October 23, 2016 at 8:24 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Edwardo Piet - October 23, 2016 at 8:32 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by ApeNotKillApe - October 23, 2016 at 8:40 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Edwardo Piet - October 23, 2016 at 8:01 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Edwardo Piet - October 23, 2016 at 8:02 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by ApeNotKillApe - October 23, 2016 at 8:12 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Minimalist - October 23, 2016 at 8:14 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Angrboda - October 23, 2016 at 8:18 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Edwardo Piet - October 23, 2016 at 8:30 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Whateverist - October 23, 2016 at 8:49 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Edwardo Piet - October 24, 2016 at 10:33 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by robvalue - October 24, 2016 at 1:25 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Rhizomorph13 - October 24, 2016 at 10:22 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Whateverist - October 24, 2016 at 11:48 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Edwardo Piet - October 24, 2016 at 10:35 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by downbeatplumb - October 24, 2016 at 1:08 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by theologian - November 3, 2016 at 4:22 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Gemini - November 3, 2016 at 6:48 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Sal - November 3, 2016 at 7:21 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Alex K - November 3, 2016 at 7:41 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Brian37 - November 3, 2016 at 7:58 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Edwardo Piet - November 3, 2016 at 9:16 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Doubting Thomas - November 3, 2016 at 12:53 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Rhizomorph13 - November 3, 2016 at 2:00 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Gemini - November 3, 2016 at 3:13 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Sal - November 7, 2016 at 9:50 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Edwardo Piet - November 3, 2016 at 3:53 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by downbeatplumb - November 5, 2016 at 6:11 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Rhizomorph13 - November 5, 2016 at 2:20 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Mudhammam - November 7, 2016 at 1:24 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by theologian - November 5, 2016 at 7:21 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by downbeatplumb - November 6, 2016 at 5:57 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Alex K - November 5, 2016 at 7:26 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by theologian - November 6, 2016 at 1:18 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Mudhammam - November 6, 2016 at 1:31 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by theologian - November 6, 2016 at 3:11 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by theologian - November 6, 2016 at 4:55 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Mudhammam - November 6, 2016 at 11:11 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by theologian - November 8, 2016 at 7:59 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by chimp3 - November 8, 2016 at 8:14 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Grandizer - November 10, 2016 at 2:40 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by theologian - November 10, 2016 at 3:07 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Grandizer - November 10, 2016 at 3:18 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by theologian - November 10, 2016 at 9:50 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Grandizer - November 10, 2016 at 10:27 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Ignorant - November 10, 2016 at 6:50 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Grandizer - November 11, 2016 at 9:47 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Ignorant - November 11, 2016 at 2:16 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Grandizer - November 11, 2016 at 7:15 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Ignorant - November 12, 2016 at 3:15 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Mudhammam - November 6, 2016 at 1:15 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Edwardo Piet - November 6, 2016 at 7:11 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by theologian - November 6, 2016 at 9:21 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Rhizomorph13 - November 6, 2016 at 11:24 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by theologian - November 8, 2016 at 8:23 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Rhizomorph13 - November 8, 2016 at 11:11 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Minimalist - November 6, 2016 at 8:31 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Rhizomorph13 - November 6, 2016 at 9:41 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Whateverist - November 7, 2016 at 7:27 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by theologian - November 8, 2016 at 9:09 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by theologian - November 8, 2016 at 9:26 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Rhizomorph13 - November 8, 2016 at 9:44 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by Edwardo Piet - November 8, 2016 at 9:47 pm
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by theologian - November 9, 2016 at 4:31 am
RE: Supernatural isn't a useful concept - by theologian - November 10, 2016 at 2:36 am

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