The Jerry Coyne debate reached temporary hiatus late last week with Coyne invokingRosenhouse to defend himself against my charge that he has violated the methodological vs. philosophical naturalism distinction. Coyne doesn't appear to think he commits this foul; and yet he writes in The New Republic, in a line not quoted by Rosenhouse, that "supernatural phenomena are not completely beyond the realm of science." Say what? If you accept the MN/PN distinction as I have outlined it, or as Robert Pennock does in Tower of Babel, it is hard see how one can claim this. As Pennock writes:
The first and most basic characteristic of supernatural agents and powers, of course, is that they are above and beyond the natural world and its agents and powers. Indeed, this is the very definition of the term. They are not constrained by natural laws.... (p. 289)
And again:
Experimentation requires observation and ...
