HOME | DD

Description
Excerpt from the Frequently Asked Questions section of the PCRA International Website

Q: Why is the preternatural not as well-understood as mundane science?

A: The answer lies in the name itself: preternatural means unnatural and strange. While the preternatural is, technically speaking, a part of the natural world, it operates so differently from mundane reality that we place it under a separate category. The preternatural has always been a part of our world, and long ago humans were more familiar with it than they were with, say, lightning. However, this "understanding" was little more than superstition. When the Scientific Revolution spread the ideas of empirical measurement and the scientific method, we began to understand the mundane world more, but the preternatural remained out of our reach. Most preternatural phenomenon cannot be measured with all but the most advanced technology, and much of what we know about the preternatural is self-contradictory and inconsistent. The study of the preternatural also involves assumptions and practices that would have been deemed heretical by religious orders of the past or immoral and illegal by secular authorities. It was only during WWII, with advances in mundane technology, the recovery of lost thaumaturgic artefacts, and wartime necessity that allowed people to begin studying the preternatural.

Description
Excerpt from the Frequently Asked Questions section of the PCRA International Website

Q: Why is the preternatural not as well-understood as mundane science?

A: The answer lies in the name itself: preternatural means unnatural and strange. While the preternatural is, technically speaking, a part of the natural world, it operates so differently from mundane reality that we place it under a separate category. The preternatural has always been a part of our world, and long ago humans were more familiar with it than they were with, say, lightning. However, this "understanding" was little more than superstition. When the Scientific Revolution spread the ideas of empirical measurement and the scientific method, we began to understand the mundane world more, but the preternatural remained out of our reach. Most preternatural phenomenon cannot be measured with all but the most advanced technology, and much of what we know about the preternatural is self-contradictory and inconsistent. The study of the preternatural also involves assumptions and practices that would have been deemed heretical by religious orders of the past or immoral and illegal by secular authorities. It was only during WWII, with advances in mundane technology, the recovery of lost thaumaturgic artefacts, and wartime necessity that allowed people to begin studying the preternatural.