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In reply to the discussion: Is the belief that the laws of physics were/can be suspended by a supernatural force... [View all]Deep13
(39,154 posts)40. Oh, there have been stories of miracles since then.
Historians have to take such stories seriously for the purpose of putting together the basic perspective of, for example, people living in the Middle Ages. When a medieval monk discusses land transfers from the nobles to the monastery in one paragraph and the dragon he saw in the next, a historian cannot assume there is a separation between what modern people consider real and fantastic, since the writer made no such distinction. As far as that monk is concerned, both land transfers and dragons were real.
Nevertheless, science looks for objectivity: things that are real independently of the constructed world views of specific people. So, "it's real to me" is another way of saying, "I made it up, but am not aware of it."
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Is the belief that the laws of physics were/can be suspended by a supernatural force... [View all]
cleanhippie
Jun 2013
OP
Not if you make it part of your belief system that the natural laws of the universe...
trotsky
Jun 2013
#4
The notion that the laws of physics could be suspended by a supernatural force
struggle4progress
Jun 2013
#13
Except the sociologist brings her own cultural constructs to whatever the project is.
Deep13
Jun 2013
#42