(February 9, 2012 at 11:13 am)Rhythm Wrote: Simply because we couldn't identify the mechanism does not mean that we could not isolate or observe the effect or it's relationship to what we could observe. Magic and spells and spirits have never been given a description that is immune to observation by means of experimentation, which is exactly how we've experimented on the hypothesis until it was a hollow little corpse.
I'm assuming this was addressed to me.
Aren't magic and spirits by definition outside the scope of science? They are ways to manipulate the natural world through supernatural means. While the experimentation's scope extends to the natural world, anything beyond it is out of bounds and cannot be either proved or disproved. Why else would people like theistic evolutionist exist. They say that yes - evolution did take place, but it was nudged along by god - a hypothesis which is inherently unfalsifiable.
For example, a witch might say - do this ritual and if you really, really believe in spirits and the spirits are really, really pleased with you, good luck will shower upon you. That can never be proven false. You can conceivably, in future, determine if a person really believes a concept or not, but you'd never be able to determine if the spirits are pleased.
