Do You Believe in Magic?

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I selected maybe because I like to keep an open mind, and I like to sit on the fence.

Sitting on the fence is is nearly a sport - pole-sitting is the real deal.

 

[Studio69]

No; not in the least.

 

[Whitemouse]

I believe that anything ordained as a magical effect is simply sufficiently advanced technology.

 

[Umbran]

I don't even believe in the supernatural, of any kind.

There is a school of thought that the word, "supernatural," is itself an oxymoron. The idea being that nothing is actually outside the natural world - if you think a phenomenon is "supernatural" that merely means your concept of "natural" was of insufficient scope.

 

[Samnell]

There is a school of thought that the word, "supernatural," is itself an oxymoron. The idea being that nothing is actually outside the natural world - if you think a phenomenon is "supernatural" that merely means your concept of "natural" was of insufficient scope.

That's more or less my thinking on the matter. Were we to come on a genuine event which clearly did not operate according to our understanding of how nature behaves, it would not mean that we have found some different sort of reality. It would only mean we needed to expand our understanding of reality further. To me, calling some real phenomenon supernatural does nothing more than to close off lines of inquiry and preserve ignorance. People used to think lightning and disease were supernatural, but they were wrong.

...but I sense that I am quite close to religion side of the religion & politics rule, so I'm going to stop here.

 

[Merkuri]

There is a school of thought that the word, "supernatural," is itself an oxymoron. The idea being that nothing is actually outside the natural world - if you think a phenomenon is "supernatural" that merely means your concept of "natural" was of insufficient scope.

Yeah, I was gonna say something like that.

I believe that anything that we think of as "supernatural" (ie being outside nature) is just something we have not been able to sufficiently explain, and once it it studied and its explanation is found we will find that it is natural indeed, it was just a part of nature that we were unaware of before.

I've wrestled with this sort of idea when trying to define exactly what magic is in my homebrew. The scientist in me won't let me just say, "it's magic!" and leave it at that, but I find that the moment I define magic it becomes non-supernatural, because it has been explained as a part of the natural world.

Really, by definition, supernatural things are things that do not exist.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

It's noticeable that magic in most settings actually follows laws. It might be called "supernatural", but you can still research it, and you can repeat it. The way you create the effects might be "strange" - making a gesture and speaking some words of power creates a fireball - but it is still something that you could research with scientific methods.

 

[Eye Of The Hawk]

I believe in possibility of magic. Perhaps does exist but we is blind to it as mortal perceptions are limiting.

 

[Nyaricus]

There is a school of thought that the word, "supernatural," is itself an oxymoron. The idea being that nothing is actually outside the natural world - if you think a phenomenon is "supernatural" that merely means your concept of "natural" was of insufficient scope.

That's what I came in here to say; in other words, no, I don't believe in magic or the supernatural of any sort.

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Now playing: At the Gates - Captor of Sin [Slayer Cover]
via FoxyTunes

 

[CleverNickName]

That's what I came in here to say; in other words, no, I don't believe in magic or the supernatural of any sort.

The distinction is mostly because of our language and culture: ghosts are regarded as being "supernatural" but not necessarily "magical," for example, and wars have been fought over the distinction between "miracles" and "sorcery." As far as physical science is concerned, none of these things will ever be adequately proven.

Psychology offers some interesting explainations, but psychologists and physicists have enough trouble agreeing with each other as it is.