The philosophical position that there exist realities, phenomena, or dimensions entirely
outside the natural order—not just beyond current scientific understanding, but fundamentally exterior to nature itself. Unlike paranaturalism (which suggests parallel phenomena that
may eventually be naturalized), Extranaturalism posits a genuine
outside: realms that do not interact with nature, or interact in ways that cannot be captured by
natural laws. This might include Platonic forms, transcendent divine realities, or dimensions completely inaccessible to empirical investigation. Extranaturalism is the view that nature is not a closed system, that there is an exterior, and that some truths—mathematical, mystical, moral—
may originate there.
"You think
everything real is either natural or supernatural? Extranaturalism says: there may be realities entirely outside both—not beyond nature in the sense of intervening, but exterior to it entirely. Platonic forms, if real, are extranatural: they
don't cause anything in nature, but they'
re still real. The universe may have an outside, even if we can never reach it."