I'm inclined to agree, but I do think "plausibly" is doing a little more work there than it first appears. I've had a handful of paranormal experiences in my l

I'm inclined to agree, but I do think "plausibly" is doing a little more work there than it first appears. I've had a handful of paranormal experiences in my life that I was able to verify to my complete satisfaction. Also, when I had those experiences I was an avowed materialist agnostic who enjoyed shooting down religious people to show how clever I thought I was. I returned to a dualist philosophy as a result of logical inquiry, not religious indoctrination. Platonism is a gateway drug. Even so, my first thought is always to look for a normal explanation. In my experience paranormal abilities are both extremely rare and frankly quite unreliable. Due to that, for me the apparent reliability of dowsing actually speaks against it being what I would consider a paranormal phenomenon. As others have put better in other comments on this submission, it's probably a matter of training and subconscious recognition. Nevertheless, I wouldn't rule out the possibility that there are practitioners who 99% of the time are doing that, but 1% of the time actually do something paranormal. I just don't know.