Blackwell Reference Online

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Naturalism in the philosophy of science, and philosophy generally, is more an overall approach to the subject than a set of specific doctrines. In philosophy it may be characterized only by the most general ontological and epistemological principles, and then more by what it opposes than by what it proposes. Ontologically, naturalism implies the rejection of supernaturalism. Traditionally this has meant primarily the rejection of any deity, such as the Judeo-Christian God, which stands outside nature as creator or actor. Positively, naturalists hold that reality, including human life and society, is exhausted by what exists in the causal order of nature. Some naturalists have embraced materialism, while others have struggled to avoid it. Epistemologically, naturalism implies the rejection of all forms of a priori knowledge, including that of higher-level principles of epistemic validation. Positively, naturalists claim that all knowledge derives from human interactions with the natural world. This includes sense perception, but may also include both techniques and technologies of human origin, such as statistical hypothesis testing and microscopes. Naturalists typically laud Aristotle. Hume, and Mill as supporting naturalism, while criticizing Plato, Leibniz, and Kant for their anti-naturalism (see hume; mill; and leibniz ). Probably the single most important contributor to naturalism ... log in or subscribe to read full text