What proof do skeptics want. Exactually how do you intend to weigh and measure a spirit or a premonition??

Question

Anomalous lights in the sky, mysterious creatures, angelic figures, strange subhumans, people have always seen funny things throughout the ages. In western culture apparitions and visions have become discredited. They are unpopular and outlawed by official agents in our cultures, science, churches, academia or the press, hower they continue to disconcert us' UFOs, Virgin Marys, phantom animals, aliens, spiritual encounter and so on are seen all over the world.

To the believer and skeptic how do you weigh and measure these encounters and why do you believe or disbelieve????

Answer 1

You tell me after you have had a premonition or an encounter some will not believe until they experiance the real thing. You cant make them belive it they want it to happen to them so they can believe it . I dont need to weigh it but if you sit on this a bit and think about it death is not the end. Things dont always make sense they are in the light and dark

Answer 2

One would not "weigh and measure a spirit or a premonition". A critical thinker (i.e., a skeptic) would weigh the evidence for there being such an apparition or the specificity, veracity and statistical likelihood of the premonition.

There is a silly saying that no proof is enough for a skeptic, but that really is a huge misunderstanding of what a skeptic is. A skeptic isn't someone who dismisses anything and everything without giving it due consideration; rather, a skeptic WANTS to see the evidence. In fact, it is the skeptic who truly appreciates the value of objective, reliable evidence that can be seen, studied, quantified, etc.

What is "enough" evidence? Remember that paranormal claims are just that -- para-normal. In the world of science and scientific investigation, they have not been observed. Moreover, paranormal claims involve not just modifications to known science, but they seem to always involve big convoluted metaphysical theories that really are way way out there in terms of scientific knowledge. Just the idea of ghosts existing suggests a whole different kind of "universe" interacting with our own physical one, for example. They are extraordinary claims, in other words, and such claims require extraordinary evidence if they are to be believed or even considered as a possibility. Such evidence always seems to be lacking.

Instead, we have ghost stories usually with few or no witnesses and no way to judge the reliability of the observations or to eliminate the possibility of deception. We have no video evidence and no photo evidence (photoshopping and that silly "orb" nonsense notwithstanding). We have nebulous sounds on a tape recorder that some ghost hunters think are words being spoken from the beyond, but it's really just static and white noise being interpreted with subjective wishfulness. And images of Virgin Mary? I've never seen any purported image of VM that didn't look just as much like Edvard Munch's "Scream", the Hunchback of Notre Dame, or just a blob that was thin on top and wider on the bottom. There really is no credible evidence for ghosts, telekinesis, clairvoyance, etc., yet that I have come across.

Mythology and folklore is full of all sorts of stories of monsters and spirits, and there are many, many reasons why a person might see something out of the corner of their eye, or something might fall off a shelf, etc., that don't require any paranormal explanation yet by the power of storytelling they have become ghost stories handed down and passed around. These aren't believable.

As a skeptic, ghost stories are not compelling or believable by themselves. I need to see the evidence, or be there to experience it and then investigate the causes, eliminating all possible physical explanations. At that point, would I believe?  No, not yet, because perhaps I have not exhausted all possible explanations that I may or may not be aware of, and as a scientist I can't rush to conclusions. But at least at that point I can say that something happened that I can't explain and you would have my attention and my interest. Sad to say, however, it has never gotten to this point.

Answer 3

Ordinary Incredulity is one thing that can not be confused with  skepticism ,and if it would be a scientific one,does not mean that the scientific skeptic is necessarily a scientist who conducts live experiments,so i think it is irrelevant their mode of contradict what you consider is true,(however it is always necessary to have a different point of view )i think one of the most measure tools you have to determine and grant as fact this things that reason can not explain,is by personal experience,and something more,there is got to be room for doubt,not every one that claims having some of this phenomena are to be believed,but then again it is like everything else in life,preach one thing and then does other different than the preaching

Answer 4

I am a skeptic.

The main problem with much of what you describe is a complete and utter lack of evidence.  There is absolutely no evidence.  None.

Anomalous lights in the sky?  Where?  Phoenix?  Debunked.

Angels?  Where?  According to whom?  Why is it that people in the US see angels but people in Japan see dragons?  Why is it that the "vision" always seems to match a pre-existing cultural objects?  How come Virgin Mary is only seen by Catholics?

I want to see these things.  I would love to see the evidence.  If the evidence were credible then I too would believe.  But the fact of the matter is that there is none.  Those who believe in the supernatural and paranormal are at worst frauds and at best fantasy-prone.

Answer 5

I'm a believer. I've seen dragons... Well, Ok, I've seen 2 dragons and it was only for around 2 seconds, but I know what I've seen. I've also seen a faerie once. It wasn't detailed. It was a small human shape with a purplish colour and it was emitting purplish light. I was in bed at that moment and it didn't even occur to me to walk to it. Geez, I'm so stupid... I just thought: "Hey that's pretty and cool." And I tried to sleep...

I've also made Psi-balls, but I don't know if you can consider that paranormal.

I also heard about how the docters weighed someone while dying. When a person dies all movement in the body stops and more things change. That also makes the person weigh less, so I'm not convinced that it was a person's soul.

I believe, because I've had encounters. I want to see ghosts, and I don't want to see them. I'm afraid of what I might see. I'm afraid that it scares me, but I want to see them, because It may be nice, and maybe I'll be able to see my brother, who died last march at the age of 20...

Even if someday someone really proves that it doesn't exist, I'll still believe. I'll always believe, because I want to believe. Not that anyone can prove it doesn't exist, though.

I respect people for believing. I also respect the people that don't believe. I'm not going to call other people names because they don't believe. While a lot of people that don't believe call the ones that do believe names... That is very disrespectful if you ask me.

Have a nice day, everyone ^-^

~Alexandra, 16 years old

PS: There is also a book on Dragon Magick (with summoning dragons and stuff) called 'Dancing with Dragons' by D.J. Conway... For all dragon lovers!

I have 51 dragon statues in my room XD

Answer 6

Actually weighing a spirit has already been done. They put someone who was dieing on a scale and when they died they weighed less.

And I do believe. Too many people have seen and witnessed these things and witnessed by creditable people  for me not to believe. It's kinda like saying you don't love someone just because you can't see love. But you know you do.

Answer 7

Because many of the things as you describe would require such an overturing of our understanding of the universe that they'd require a lot of evidence. Now our understanding of the universe is overturned quite a lot, but not without a solid explanation/theory and lots of evidence. Evolution got off the ground because it matched the fossil record, field observations, a ton of other stuff, and Darwin managed to expain credibly how it would work (which many others added to). Relativity was accepted because it explained the photo-electric effect, the orbit of Mercury, a bunch of other anomolies with Classical Physics, and because Einstein was a genius who produced a solid theory.

Things like Bigfoot could exist, nothing impossible about a giant ape, but things like ghosts would require such a bg change in our view of the universe that they can't be accepted just because lots of people who want to believe (the first geologists wanted to find evidence for the Flood, and thats why they were credible when they said there wasn't any) say so. It'd be cool if these things were true, and I try to keep an open mind, but nothing persuasive yet. Technology getting pretty indistingushiable from magic now, anyway.

Answer 8

I believe the power of suggestion is very potent, and once a lot of the things you described are demystified and the scientific explanation is presented, it's very hard for me to believe.  Just know that I'm not attacking you, Sweetie, and I respect what you believe! : D

Answer 9

Well I am a skeptic on most part but I think I am warrented so.  One thing is, how do i know that the claimer doesnt link a UFO in its literal sense to an alien? It takes some sort of proof other than words to just convince me or else I meant to believe everything I am told.  Now that doesnt mean I am positively sure it didnt exist, it just means i am not convinced that it did.

Answer 10

I honestly don't believe you can convince a true skeptic. I feel they will always find a way to dismiss any claims of anything outside the norm. Where it becomes an issue is dealing with the different levels of skepticism. To simply not believe is not where the conflict is but in the skeptic that has closed their mind to the possibility at a point where they go out of their way to not only state their own opinion but also insult the believer by calling them crazy or delusional. There are far too many things that happen that can not be explained to just out-right deny someone their opinion. I have never seen a true believer crush the opinion of a skeptic but i have seen many skeptics crush the opinion of a believer.

Regardless their intent, there is no reason what-so-ever to not respect the people and their choice to have their own opinion.

For the record I am a believer who does not feel i have to prove anything to anyone. As for my mental health I have been checked and found that I have nothing wrong with my mind.

I welcome any skeptic that can prove to me that the paranormal does not exist, if they can do so without insulting my own opinion. And since i know for a fact that they can no more convince me as I can them then they should be willing to respect my opinion as i respect theirs.

Answer 11

It's not for you to prepare scientific laboratory proof of anything you witness, flat-earthers say "Tisn't" to anything unfamiliar, anyway. It is much more important to keep an open mind about everything, simply for your own intelligence.

Answer 12

For thousands of years, "apparitions and visions" have been discredited by those who believe there is fundamental order & logic in the universe.

There is no "supernatural".  

You should read "Why People Believe Weird Things", by Michael Shermer, you might learn to appreciate why ALL bogus beliefs eventually come to be discredited...

Answer 13

I believe in all those things.  What I do have a problem with is everybody and there mother calling themselves a seer, or ghost hunter, psychic, etc.....  There are very, very, very few true psychics or those who can truly see apparitions and communicate with them.  It is the phonies who give ammunition to those who discredit anything that has to do with apparitions and visions, etc....  Sylvia Browne that fraud and always knew is a perfect example. The true, true psychic doesn't have a store front, doesn't go on tv shows, doesn't ask for one dollar for his/her assistance, or CARE about who believes and who doesn't.

Answer 14

It's actually pretty funny.People make the most outrageous claims.Then become upset when not everyone buys into them.No one outlaws these claims.Say anything you want anytime you want.I'll do the same.The reason so many of these things are discredited is simple.They don't exist.If we're wrong show us.One mysterious creature or strange subhuman where is it?Is just one little shred of hard evidence too much to ask for?