Poll: Are ghosts supernatural or preternatural?

[Jonluw]

Hiya escapists.

Spawned from a previous thread of mine, here's a question for you:

If ghosts existed, would they be preternatural [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preternatural] or supernatural [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernatural]?

 

[The Salty Vulcan]

Whose to say they're not both?

 

[Jonluw]

Whose to say they're not both?

I would say the terms are mutually exclusive, considering you can learn about the preternatural.

 

[Ieyke]

Ghost don't exist, therefore they are supernatural.

If they existed, and we knew about it, they'd be natural.
If they existed, and we did know about it, they'd be preternatural.

 

[Thaluikhain]

If they existed, they'd have to be natural.

"Preternatural" seems to mean things that are theoretically possible, but don't exist, as opposed to supernatural which isn't even theoretically possible.

 

[Hosker]

If they existed then they would be preternatural, if we couldn't explain them anyway. But they don't, so they are supernatural.