Scientifically Investigating Human Belief

quote So we have an observable phenomenon (human belief in the existence of the supernatural) that requires scientific explanation. The question posed in this thread is therefore: How do we scientifically investigate the cause of this observable phenomenon? unquoteThis is quite tangled, in at least two ways.First, you cannot investigate a belief - by the nature of belief. A belief is the decision to act on one of two or more necessarily unproved or unprovable propositions. Not only that, but the decision to act on any one of the propositions is always i) beyond logical reproach even if it is pragmatically a matter of reproach ii) unrelated to the facts on which the unproved propositions are based.The other tangle was the unannounced slide from investigating the putatively private or psychological nature of belief (even though the propositions that make up a belief are always public, never private), to the idea that investigating a belief was investigating the propositions or facts behind the propositions of a belief. So you can understand if I ask you what you think you want to investigate?Edited by John Jones, : No reason given.

A belief can't be proven wrong, for a true fact is never offered as a matter of belief.

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This thread asks what science has to say about the question of why people believe in the existence of supernatural beings. Things like Hyperactive Agency Detection are an obvious starting point in such discussions. Of course you can invenstigate reasons and causes for belief. If I asked you why people used to believe that the Earth was flat you would have no problem with the question being posed. Here I am asking why it is that humans believe in supernatural beings and seeking the scientific answer to this question.

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Why do you have a problem with that?

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If I believe that it will rain tomorrow, then what would you want to investigate?There can be no investigation. People believe only in those things that either can't be proven or have not been proved. It's perfectly logical to say I believe in A,and not B, if both A and B are unproved or unprovable.I think what you want to say is that supernatural things are nonsense. But that has nothing to do with belief. {Fixed quote box. Use "peek" to see how it was done. - Adminnemooseus}Edited by Adminnemooseus, : Fix quote box. Add a blank line in quote box while I was at it.