"You're a Materialist/Naturalist"

[Ben Davis]

Ben Davis - What I'm trying to show is that even if we consider the Supernatural as a hypothesis, we cannot possibly find any evidence to support it so it is pointless trying to posit it as an explanation for a phenomenon.

Okay, let's assume the supernatural is real for a moment. We therefore have a definition (however accurate) of what is supernatural. That definition contains attributes/values against which any interaction can be measured.

An event occurs that may be supernatural...

The approach then becomes 'gather data regarding the interaction and measure it against the attributes/values that we use to define 'supernatural''. If we get a match, it's a supernatural event. If we get a close comparison, that may tell us things about the attributes/values which will help us refine our definition of supernatural leading to a match/no match. If we get no match at all, we would consider an event as natural. Additionally, that definition may be used to design experiments/models to test our understanding. Over time, with continuous measurement and experimentation/modelling, our understanding of the supernatural improves until we consider our definition 'robust'. A robust definition can then be used for practical purposes (e.g. banks might want to be able to hide their vaults in a supernatural realm to prevent theft). Further, we may find, as our definition improves, that events which we previously thought were natural are actually supernatural.

There's no omniscience required; this is the same approach we apply to every field of study.

Theists claim that we discount the supernatural and claim it definitely does not exist. I disagree with this.

What do you disagree with? The theist claims or that the supernatural definitely doesn't exist?

Some people do claim that the supernatural doesn't exist. I'm one of them. This is on the basis of the lack of evidence for most supernatural claims/events/'hypotheses' etc. and the overwhelming abundance of refutations of such evidence as is presented for them. Like I said earlier, I'm not absolutist about it. All it would take is decent evidence to change my mind.