Our server costs ~$56 per month to run. Please consider donating or becoming a Patron to help keep the site running. Help us gain new members by following us on Twitter and liking our page on Facebook!
Current time: October 15, 2025, 9:29 am

Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Testing a Hypothesis about the Supernatural
#70
RE: Testing a Hypothesis about the Supernatural
(April 11, 2018 at 11:06 am)SteveII Wrote: We are left with only observing the natural effect. We can rationally infer a supernatural cause if the probability of there being a natural cause is sufficiently low. 

No, this is simply false. Our knowledge of the natural is necessarily incomplete, so we can never completely rule out a natural cause. We can determine the probability of the natural causes we know about being responsible, however we can never know the true probability that an event has a natural cause. Your argument is faulty. This follows from the apophatic way in which you've defined the supernatural. This is little more than an appeal to ignorance. If an event has no known natural cause then the event is "unexplained," not supernatural.
[Image: extraordinarywoo-sig.jpg]
Reply



Messages In This Thread
Testing a Hypothesis about the Supernatural - by Bahana - April 9, 2018 at 8:23 pm
RE: Testing a Hypothesis about the Supernatural - by Angrboda - April 11, 2018 at 8:47 pm

Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Trying to simplify my Consciousness hypothesis Won2blv 83 21639 February 21, 2017 at 1:31 pm
Last Post: The Grand Nudger
  A hypothesis about consciousness Won2blv 12 5562 February 12, 2017 at 9:31 pm
Last Post: Won2blv
  Supernatural isn't a useful concept Rhizomorph13 85 18758 November 12, 2016 at 3:15 am
Last Post: Ignorant
  If a supernatural intelligence did create the universe..... maestroanth 12 2970 April 20, 2016 at 8:36 pm
Last Post: bennyboy
  Let's play with the concept of 'Supernatural' ErGingerbreadMandude 13 3184 March 22, 2016 at 4:01 am
Last Post: BrianSoddingBoru4
  New suppositions about God and the supernatural entities A-g-n-o-s-t-i-c 30 13958 January 20, 2016 at 1:53 pm
Last Post: A-g-n-o-s-t-i-c
  What is Supernatural? ErGingerbreadMandude 50 12581 September 14, 2015 at 10:35 am
Last Post: robvalue
  One philosophical argument for existence of supernatural. Mystic 59 20124 July 20, 2015 at 10:01 pm
Last Post: Cato
  Open challenge regarding the supernatural robvalue 38 8889 May 20, 2015 at 11:53 pm
Last Post: Faith No More
  God of the gaps, magical hypothesis, philosophical meandering. schizo pantheist 36 11341 January 23, 2015 at 12:04 am
Last Post: SteelCurtain



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)