How is supernatural defined?

Been watching some debates on YT and have been wondering on this.

If the supernatural exists, would it not, by definition, immediately become natural by virtue of its manifestations in nature? If it’s never been seen before, wouldn’t it then expand upon and be included into our knowledge and understanding of the natural world, instead of being viewed as an aberration of it? How can something that exists, by its very definition, ’super’ exist? It would simply just exist.

From my understanding of the term, supernatural would have to be defined as something that lays and operates outside of (or replaces) natural law, but that also operates on the massively arrogant assumption that we fully understand all natural law to begin with. We don’t, so how could we ever make such a determination to qualify that distinction? It’s a completely meaningless term….supernatural is only super right up until the moment it is natural.

Thoughts?

Sure, that's a slight of hand. Natural sciences adapt their theories and principles in light of new evidence, so the inexplicable was only ever an apparition and the impossible continues to be impossible until it isn't. Fucking Scooby Doo ending every time.

@MirkoS77: i think it needs to be something humans cant explain with our current knowledge of nature. Which doesn't mean its not from nature, but its something from nature we cant explain or don't have the understanding to explain how or why. When that happens it can be placed in the "super" catagory

Curious how ghosts don't fall theough the ground and get stuck in the planet's molten core or come out the other side to be ejected from earth's gravitational influence to be drifting through space lost for all eternity.

"Supernatural" is just the intellectually lazy ignoramuses' presupposition for "things science hasn't got around to explaining yet." A slightly more vague and wishy-washy variation of the "God of the Gaps" fallacy.

"We don't know yet" is a perfectly valid and honest answer to things. No need to resort to supernatural mumbo jumbo.

I think that is why we call it super natural; not because it exists within the confines of natural law, but in spite of it. Outside of it.

We see it, sure. We believe, because seeing is believing. But we can't quantify it, assign laws of physics or natural order to it.

Of course then you enter into the debate of "Well it's not really supernatural, it's just something we don't understand yet." Which is sort of where I land; I don't really think there's anything supernatural out there. There are just things we don't/can't understand yet.

This is more or less how I feel about a lot of things. Comfortable with not knowing. Would like to know, sure. But OK not knowing.

I'm curious to hear from someone who believes in miracles.....maybe a Christian can explain. Isn't nod_calypse religious?

I agree with others in here that the term is really just one of convivence for what we don't yet or haven't been able to explain, but I'd like to hear how miracles and the like work.

Yeah I'd like to hear that perspective as well.

As a filthy dirty pagan non-believer, I've always sort of viewed the belief in miracles as the mental gymnastics needed to get over one's inability to accept the unknown.

For example, they see something unbelievable, they go "Woh that doesn't make any sense? How did that happen? Is it random...no no no...it must be God! Yes, God is the answer. OK good now I can go on with my life".

I don't mean that as a criticism or anything btw, I just think there's a certain percentage of the population that can't live with not knowing things (or, more specifically, unexplainable things) and sometimes when knowing things isn't possible they have to supplement that with belief and that's just as good (if not better) than knowing to some people.

One of my favorite scenesfrom any movie ever is Men in Black:

I don't put that much stock in it--it's a campy sci-fi film, after all--but it's a good attitude to maintain I feel. It reminds me of the old Socrates quote where before every debate he would tell himself "I know that I know nothing" because, relatively speaking, nobody knows anything.

The ending of the MiB films always seemed to reinforce that mentality; for example, in the first movie their whole galaxy is inside a marble that aliens are playing with, and I think in the second movie they're part of a train station locker lol.

If something that's considered to be "supernatural" were to manifest and be observed and tested by scientists, it would become a part of our understanding of natural law. However, there may still be some aspects of the world that we can't yet understand, so one cannot completely dismiss the idea of the supernatural.

True. But as long as there are no "supernatural" things, I don't need to care.

There are better time wasters to watch on yt. like...

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU BECOME A WOKE COLLEGE STUDENT!