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Metaphysical naturalism

Metaphysical naturalism (also called ontological naturalism, philosophical naturalism and antisupernaturalism) is a philosophical worldview which holds that there is nothing but natural elements, principles, and relations of the kind studied by the natural sciences. Methodological naturalism is a philosophical basis for science, for which metaphysical naturalism provides only one possible ontological foundation. Broadly, the corresponding theological perspective is religious naturalism or spiritual naturalism. More specifically, metaphysical naturalism rejects the supernatural concepts and explanations that are part of many religions.

This article is about the worldview. For the working assumption without suggesting ultimate truth, see Methodological naturalism.

Arguments for metaphysical naturalism[edit]

Argument from physical minds[edit]

In his critique of Mind-body dualism, Paul Churchland writes that it is always the case that the mental substance and/or properties of the person are significantly changed or compromised via brain damage. If the mind were a completely separate substance from the brain, how could it be possible that every single time the brain is injured, the mind is also injured? Indeed, it is very frequently the case that one can even predict and explain the kind of mental or psychological deterioration or change that human beings will undergo when specific parts of their brains are damaged. So the question for the dualist to try to confront is how can all of this be explained if the mind is a separate and immaterial substance from, or if its properties are ontologically independent of, the brain.[13]


Modern experiments have demonstrated that the relation between brain and mind is much more than simple correlation. By damaging, or manipulating, specific areas of the brain repeatedly under controlled conditions (e.g. in monkeys) and reliably obtaining the same results in measures of mental state and abilities, neuroscientists have shown that the relation between damage to the brain and mental deterioration is likely causal. This conclusion is further supported by data from the effects of neuro-active chemicals (e.g., those affecting neurotransmitters) on mental functions,[14] but also from research on neurostimulation (direct electrical stimulation of the brain, including transcranial magnetic stimulation).[15]


Critics such as Edward Feser and Tyler Burge have described these arguments as "neurobabble", and consider them as flawed or as being compatible with other metaphysical ideas like Thomism.[16][17] According to the philosopher Stephen Evans:

Audi, Robert (1996). "Naturalism". In Borchert, Donald M. (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Philosophy Supplement. USA: Macmillan Reference. pp. 372–374.

(2005). Sense and Goodness without God: A defense of Metaphysical Naturalism. AuthorHouse. p. 444. ISBN 1-4208-0293-3.

Carrier, Richard

Gould, Stephen J. (1984). "Toward the vindication of punctuational change in catastrophes and earth history". In Bergren, W. A.; Van Couvering, J. A. (eds.). . Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

Catastrophes and Earth History

Gould, Stephen J. (1987). . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 119.

Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle: Myth and Metaphor in the Discovery of Geological Time

Danto, Arthur C. (1967). "Naturalism". In Edwords, Paul (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Philosophy. New York: The Macmillan Co. and The Free Press. pp. 448–450.

Hooykaas, R. (1963). The principle of uniformity in geology, biology, and theology (2nd ed.). London: E.J. Brill.

Kurtz, Paul (1990). Philosophical Essays in Pragmatic Naturalism. Prometheus Books.

Lacey, Alan R. (1995). "Naturalism". In Honderich, Ted (ed.). . Oxford University Press. pp. 604–606. ISBN 978-0-19-866132-0.

The Oxford Companion to Philosophy

Post, John F. (1995). "Naturalism". In Audi, Robert (ed.). . Cambridge University Press. pp. 517–518.

The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy

(2002). World Without Design: The Ontological Consequences of Naturalism. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-924760-9.

Rea, Michael

(2002). Cosmos. Random House. ISBN 978-0-375-50832-5.

Sagan, Carl

Simpson, G. G. (1963). "Historical science". In Albritton, C. C. Jr. (ed.). Fabric of geology. Stanford, California: Freeman, Cooper, and Company.

Strahler, Arthur N. (1992). . Buffalo: Prometheus Books. ISBN 9780879757243.

Understanding Science: An Introduction to Concepts and Issues

Veli-Matti Karkkainen. (2015). Creation and Humanity: A Constructive Christian Theology for the Pluralistic World, Volume 3. Pg 36. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0802868558.

Stone, J.A. (2008). . G – Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series. State University of New York Press. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-7914-7537-9. LCCN 2007048682.

Religious Naturalism Today: The Rebirth of a Forgotten Alternative

Edward B. Davis and , "Scientific Naturalism". In Science and Religion: A Historical Introduction, ed. Gary B. Ferngren, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002, pp. 322–34.

Robin Collins

"Naturalism" in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

"Naturalism" in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

"Naturalism in Legal Philosophy" in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

"Naturalism in the Philosophy of Mathematics" in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

"Physicalism" in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

"Naturalism" in the Catholic Encyclopedia

Center for Naturalism

entry in The Skeptic's Dictionary

Naturalism

at the Secular Web

Naturalism Library

resource page by Richard Carrier

Naturalism as a Worldview

by Keith Augustine (2001)

A Defense of Naturalism