Skeptics: can every metaphysical phenomena be explained logically?

Question

Can every one be explained as mental illness of the observer? Hallucinations? Coincidence? Opticle illusion? Natural events?

Has every person, thousands if not milllions, some very credible, who has seen a ghost, UFO, Bigfoot, experienced prayers or spells answered, telepathy, clairvoyance, just been hallucinating? Some of these things have been explained but in each case there are some that haven't.

Can everything be explained logically?

Answer 1

Skeptic just doesn't believe. They research they do is only based on reports people have made. They do not dive in and see for themselves. I am not sure if they could being biased.

Anyway yes things happen, no they are not very public. Small sects of people know about them and for reason don't speak of them.

Answer 2

Yes!

If it's not repeatable, and cannot be duplicated under controlled circumstances, it cannot be substantiated.

Not necessarily 'mental illness' - but certainly an anomaly or misinterpretation of reality.

There is no magic. Period. There is illusion.

There are no miracles. Period. There is illusion.

There is no 'other side' - Period. Just a sales pitch.



Of all the things you listed, the only one I'm not completely convinced of are UFOs. The universe is a big place - there's still plenty to be learned. Time and space are fluid...so there may be some technology behind some machinery we've yet to grasp.

However...the rest of the things you mentioned, and some others you did not- Are pure fabrication...and will remain so until they can pass the rigor of scientific testing. Without being under laboratory conditions, it is simply impossible to say what exactly someone saw or heard at any given time. It is fair to say what they did not see or hear - which would include ghosts, spirits, bigfeet (sp? lol), or mental telepathy.

Medicine and science are proving incredible truths on a daily basis. The world we live in is already full of wonder and discovery through science. There's no reason to focus on mystic fabrications that cannot be substantiated in any way, shape, or form.

Keep it 'real' ..!!

Answer 3

Of course not. If it could, there wouldn't be an argument. However, amateurs try to use philosophy to prove their false claims, contradicting themselves time and time again.

For example, they'll have you believe that the universe was always around, which makes no sense once so ever. Even more so, they'll say that everything was there after the Big Bang and the exquisite order in the universe, even to the minutest details, especially in living beings, was caused by random chance or has some other "logical" explanation! It's like saying that if you took the some cement, some metal, some glass, and whatever else you needed, put them in water, and waited for a thunderstorm to happen, that the Statue of Liberty would come out of the water! Whoever believes that is only insulting their own intelligence! Not to mention, everything you needed was just "there" and you just "had" them, they didn't come from anywhere! Ridiculous!

No my friend, the human mind can only understand so much. And it is precisely this ignorance which leads people to assume that if they gain a few facts, they know everything! Intellectual bigotry is all it is. May we be protected. Amen.

God is One
Peace to those who follow the Guidance.

Answer 4

James Randi has one million dollars in a bank waiting for someone to bring proof of any of these things to him, not say so, hear say, or some phoney evidence, solid, scientifically backed up proof. The million dollars is still sitting in the bank after many years, no one has even come close. Just because something may not be explained in detail dosen't mean that there must be some super natural cause. Given enough time, enough work, and get past the cover ups, wannabe stars and hoaxsters, everything has an explaniation. Even the crop circle guys finally came out and show the world how they hoaxed everyone.

Answer 5

Maybe not now, but each case probably could be eventually, given enough knowledge. After all, lightning was once thought to be an expression of god's displeasure, as were floods, storms, and population peaks for locusts, etc. In each case, scientific investigations eventually proved that they were natural phenomena.

Some of the specific incidences may never be proven or disproven, but that's because there's no way to go gather further information on them. Take Roger Patterson's famous bigfoot film, for example. If we had a predator unmanned recon aircraft like those used in Iraq on hand then, and followed the creature filmed, we could conceivably have learned enough to prove once and for all whether it was a hoax, or if bigfoot exists. But short of inventing time travel, it ain't gonna happen now.

Answer 6

It could be if you had all the facts. The problem is that you don't when you are dealing with human perception. Ten people will tell you ten different things about the same event. That is why, for instance, when they investigate a plane crash, they take all eyewitness accounts with a huge grain of salt.

If you want evidence you need something that can be measured and reproduced. It is really easy to be wrong. Our brains are wired by evolution to see patterns. You see a big cat crouched under a tree and avoid it. If you are right you live. If it is just a shadow, like it most likely is, you still live. If you miss the pattern and it is a cat, you die. So we see things that aren't really there. That is why clouds look like things to us. That is why we see things in the stars. It is nothing but survival at work.

Answer 7

Not everything can be explained, logically or otherwise. We just don't have enough information to explain them. There are some things we will never know about.

However, making up answers doesn't really accomplish much. If you do have an explanation, you should have evidence to back up your explanation. So far, there is no real valid evidence to support the existence of ghosts, ESP, prayers working, spells working, or any of that other nonsense.

Answer 8

They can be explained logically.

That doesn't mean the explanation is accurate.

Metaphysical events are virtually never objectively repeatable, so proper investigations are rarely easy. Evidence is always difficult to be certain of, so accepting people's memories and interpretations of events is iffy when discussing somethings factual accuracy.

All too often, the most accurate answer is "insufficient information for a rational explanation".

It is all too easy to grab at the simplistic and romantic notions of the metaphysical. That doesn't make them more likely.

Answer 9

The idea is that we start off by seeking rational explanations and only once every possibility has been exhausted do we seek alternative explanations but what we don't do is simply assign any strange phenomenon to an unseen supernatural force like a deity without even examining the evidence.

Answer 10

"There are more things in between heaven and hell that can be thought of in your philosophy." It is very possible that ESP and other metaphysical phenomena can be from brain functions that we do not as yet understand. In my experience most cases of precog and telepathy have to do with emotions and would be hard at this time to reproduce in a lab.