Philosophy of Science and the Supernatural

Philosophy of Science deals with the assumptions, and foundations of science. It includes such basic principles as observation and falsifiablity. It also includes the scientific method.

Philosophy affects Science if ones starting assumptions about reality are wrong, then your interpretation of observations will be wrong and your conclusions will be wrong. Such errors can still produce consistent and even accurate results. This can occur as a result of the fine tuning of a theory to fit observations, further more there is often more than one theoretical path from a to b. Also some details of  a given interpretation are not allways testable.

While philosophy affects all areas of science, the biggest affect is on historical sciences because they are the most venerable. This is because we can only observe in the present which limits data on the past and these limits make it more venerable to untestable assumptions.

Origins studies are particularly vulnerable since the origins of thing like life and the universe are one time events and science has trouble with one time events because they are not repeatable.

One problem is that there is no official scientific definition of what constitutes a supernatural event. This is because the scientific establishment tries to avoid the supernatural, considering any claim of a supernatural event to be erroneous. They basically considered the supernatural to be nothing but superstition.

Absolute Naturalism

Absolute Naturalism is the view that all phenomenon can be described in terms of natural processes governed by the laws of our universe. Basically the view is that the universe is all there is was and ever will be. According to absolute naturalism the supernatural does not exist. Such a view is totally atheistic.

Absolute Naturalism is the view held by the scientific establishment. It affects science by artificially limiting its scope. It forces any phenomenon to be either explained by purely natural means or dismissed as not actually occurring. For example a lot of purported to be supernatural events are dismissed as metal aberrations or dreams.    

Better Approach

The literal definition of supernatural is “Above or beyond nature” so a good scientific definition of would be any phenomenon resulting from events out side our universes. If the supernatural were scientifically defined in this manner then the door is opened to scientifically explaining purported supernatural events with out dismissing them out right. This definition of supernatural is justified because both General relativity and M-Theory imply that there is an out side to the universe.

A good example comes from the Bible. In John 20:19-29, Jesus Christ is described as appearing before his disciples while they were in a locked room following his resurrection. While an absolute naturalist would be forced to conclude that this event never occurred, under the above definition of supernatural it can be explained as resulting from Jesus moving in and out of our universe through a higher dimension to which the room would be open.  

Conclusion

Regardless of any claims to the contrary, science is affected by Philosophy.  Sadly the Philosophy of Absolute Naturalism hinders genuine investigation of purported supernatural events by requiring that the only allowable explanation be a totally naturalistic one. As a result there is a need for a proper scientific view of the supernatural but sadly no the only view allowed by the scientific establishment it that the supernatural does not exist.