(February 9, 2012 at 3:17 pm)Rhythm Wrote: If only spells or magic ever produced an effect to judge...ergo. falsifiable. These things claim to have effects which cannot be produced Genk. Are you arguing for magic without any effects, or spirits without any relationship to the subject? That's not what magic and spirits are (or how they have ever been described).
When someone says "I can make things happen by pyschic powers", we don't need to get into a lengthy argument about whether or not it's philosophically or logically possible, we can just say "Yeah? Show me." Which they can't, and haven't. This is what gives us that provisional certainty that scientific inquiry bestows upon things like magic. Of course, anyone is free to demonstrate the effects of magic at any time and that would force us to completely reverse our determination of "nonsense"..wouldn't it? It isn't nonsense because we have an argument against it, it's nonsense because they have no evidence for it, and all evidence we have leads us to the conclusion that it is not possible (unless we're horribly, fundamentally wrong in many areas).
Actually, I've never heard them make any claim without a caveat. They usually add something else in the end such as "as long as the spirits are willing" or "as long as the negative energy is not blocking my powers".
