Dolgikh, Andrei
Abstract: The article presents three approaches towards the problem of so-called paranormal. The first could be considered as a subjective one: the paranormal phenomena are regarded as perception errors, imaginary objects, or abnormal visions. The second approach presupposes objective existence of such deviations and defines them as fundamentally knowable (although not immediately, but rather in the distant future; what is considered as paranormal in a given moment are only those facts, which contradict to the known laws of nature). The third view is based on the admission of objective character of paranormal too, but contrary to the previous version, this one is agnostic. Within this approach, the possibility of any reliable knowledge of the nature of paranormal is rejected. The reason for this is incompatibility of one or another kind of the observed phenomena with human cognitive ability. The authors elaborate the idea that a phenomenon, which most properly matches the concept of “paranormal”, is the one characterized by singularity, uniqueness, incompatibility with any known laws of nature and causal connections, and, consequently, unpredictable; a phenomenon, which is not a subject of verification and falsification, in other words, unchecked with scientific methods. However, the very possibility of such events (primarily, in the supernatural sense) is unlikely to be recognized as problematic so far.
Keywords: paranormal, laws of nature, cognition, individuality, probability, predictability