The Extranatural

From now on I will try to remember to use the term extranatural instead of supernatural. The latter suggests that something is natural and then some. Superman has "powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men," But he was not beyond nature; he was like us but more so. 

In contrast, extranatural suggests something outside of, separate from, nature and not subject to nature's laws. The analogy with extralegal is clear: it describes something or someone that is beyond the law and not subject to its authority. While something or someone can be beyond the civil or criminal law, nothing can intelligibly be said to be outside of nature or existence--for what could the concept be possibly mean in that case?

Comments

  1. JoeOctober 13, 2020 at 8:45 AM

    In the 1978 movie, Superman *was* extranatural: he reversed time. No natural laws support that possibility.

    ReplyDelete

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