[ExI] vampires

[Damien Broderick]

On 1/22/2010 3:08 PM, Dave Sill wrote:

>> >  Vampires, if they existed outside fiction, would not be
>> >  supernatural either, unless their powers are described as deriving directly
>> >  from satanic supernatural beings.
>
> Vampires are not consistent with our current understanding of the laws
> of nature, If they were real, that would indicate that our
> understanding was lacking.

It depends which vampires. As I understand it, vampires hibernate (not 
at all impossible), get their sustenance from drinking blood (ditto), 
exert great strength (some people are in fact strong), are damaged by 
sunlight (wellll, sort of possible, maybe--but perhaps not to the point 
of combustion, unless they have very strange skin indeed), and either 
morph their body shape into those of other animals such as bats or 
levitate by the pure force of their wicked intention (most unlikely, 
especially the latter). The word for this sort of thing, by and large, 
is preternatural. "Supernatural" requires a strict ontological divide.

Damien Broderick