Paraphysics

A field of inquiry exploring phenomena and principles that lie beyond current physical understanding—not necessarily supernatural, but beyond the reach of contemporary physics. Paraphysics studies the boundaries of physics: what lies just beyond the known, what might be discovered, what could exist if our theories are incomplete. It's the physics of the frontier—respectful of science but open to possibilities that current physics cannot address. Paraphysics doesn't reject physics; it extends it, asking what comes next.

"Physics explains matter and energy; Paraphysics asks about consciousness, about psi, about dimensions beyond the four we know. Not anti-physics, but post-physics—what comes after we've mastered matter? Paraphysics is the study of the beyond, by the methods of the here."

Paraphysics by Dumu The Void March 5, 2026

Paraphysics (Philosophy)

The philosophical examination of the boundaries and limits of physics—what lies beyond, what might be possible, and how we should think about phenomena that physics cannot (yet) address. Paraphysics as philosophy asks: What are the legitimate boundaries of physical inquiry? How should we approach claims that seem to exceed physical explanation? What would it mean for something to be "beyond physics"? It's the philosophy of the frontier—thinking about thinking about the unknown.

Paraphysics (Philosophy) "Physics can't study consciousness—wrong methods. Paraphysics as philosophy asks: what methods might work? Not abandoning science, but extending it. The philosophical question isn't whether something is beyond physics; it's how we should approach what's beyond. Paraphysics is the philosophy of the not-yet-known."

Paraphysics (Philosophy) by Dumu The Void March 5, 2026

Paraphysics of the Laws of Physics

A speculative or fringe field that investigates phenomena or principles that appear to exist alongside, beyond, or in parallel to conventional physical laws—exploring the boundaries where physics meets the unexplained, the anomalous, or the supposedly impossible. Paraphysics takes seriously the possibility that our current laws might be incomplete, that phenomena dismissed as "paranormal" might indicate undiscovered dimensions of physical reality, or that consciousness might interact with matter in ways physics doesn't yet recognize. Unlike pseudoscience (which ignores evidence), paraphysics engages with anomalies while maintaining critical inquiry—asking whether UFOs, psychic phenomena, or alternative healing might point to physics beyond current understanding. Whether such inquiry leads to new physics or dead ends, paraphysics serves as a reminder that today's orthodoxy was yesterday's heresy, and that the boundaries of the physical are not necessarily the boundaries of the real.

Paraphysics of the Laws of Physics Example: "He studied telepathy not as magic but as a possible indicator of undiscovered physical interactions—paraphysics, the investigation of phenomena that seem to violate known laws but might reveal new ones. Most of it leads nowhere, but somewhere, something might."

Paraphysics of the Laws of Physics by Dumu The Void March 19, 2026

pataphysics 

'Pataphysics, a term coined by the French writer Alfred Jarry, is a philosophy dedicated to studying what lies beyond the realm of metaphysics. It is a parody of the theory and methods of modern science and is often expressed in nonsensical language. A practitioner of 'pataphysics is a 'pataphysician or a 'pataphysicist.

'Pataphysics is also defined by Jarry as the "science of imaginary solutions."

According to Jarry, the apostrophe (') is always added before the word to avoid a pun in French.

(The exact pun to be avoided is the subject of some debate. The debate itself -- being, in essense, a debate about a subject which may not truly exist, but exist as another joke by Jarry -- might itself be considered a 'pataphysical search, for an "imaginary solution" to an imaginary problem!)

Because string theory is speculation based on ideas that are themselves speculative (i.e., theories of general relativity and quantum mechanics), string theory is not in fact physics, but 'pataphysics.

Likewise, string theory and quantum calculations are, increasingly, not descriptive of an actual reality, but are simply mathematical pataphors. (P. Lopez) See also pataphor.

pataphysics by JBlum December 9, 2008

pataphysic 

Pataphysics is a term coined by the French writer Alfred Jarry, a philosophy dedicated to studying what lies beyond the realm of metaphysics. It is a parody of the theory and methods of modern science and is often expressed in nonsensical language. A practitioner of pataphysics is a pataphysician or a pataphysicist. Pataphysic (contraction of the greek "epì tà metà tà phusiká") means "what is close of what is after physics".

John: hey did you know that one of the fundamental principles of 'pataphysic is equivalence?

Bob: Dude WTF!?

pataphysic by Louis M. December 15, 2008

paeraphysics

1. The science which explains something using the laws of physics, that are not supposed to be explained using the laws of physics

2. The phenomenon of explaining something using the laws of physics though not being explicable mathematically

"Paeraphysicists discover new phenomenon and develop new theories generally after being deprived of proper sleep for weeks",

- a paeraphysicist (2023), after being sleep-deprived for 3 days.

"Paeraphysics is a cool branch of mathematics",
- aforementioned paeraphysicist (2023), after being sleep-deprived for additional 4 days.

paeraphysics by a_bin_a April 17, 2023

Pataphysics

The science of imaginary solutions, founded by French writer Alfred Jarry. Pataphysics studies what lies beyond metaphysics—the realm of exceptions, the laws governing exceptions, and the universe supplementary to this one. Where physics studies general laws (what happens most of the time), pataphysics studies the particular, the unique, the exception that proves no rule. It's the science of the clinamen, the swerve, the detail that doesn't fit. Pataphysics is serious and absurd simultaneously, a mock-discipline that reveals how all disciplines are partly mock, partly real, and entirely constructed.

"Physics explains why this apple fell. Pataphysics explains why this specific apple, at this exact moment, landed slightly left of where gravity predicted, and what that means for the apple's inner life. It's not nonsense—it's the science of the nonsense that makes sense of everything else."

Pataphysics by Dumu The Void February 24, 2026