Naturalism
Overview
This volume introduces readers to the dominant scientifically oriented worldview called naturalism. Stewart Goetz and Charles Taliaferro examine naturalism philosophically, evaluating its strengths and weaknesses. Whereas most other books on naturalism are written for professional philosophers alone, this one is aimed primarily at a college-educated audience interested in learning about this pervasive worldview.
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For more works on philosophy, check out the Eerdmans Philosophy Collection (6 vols.)
- Introduces readers to a scientifically oriented worldview
- Examines the strengths and weaknesses of naturalism
- Aims primarily at a college-educated audience
- The Challenge of Strict Naturalism
- Strict Naturalism versus a Natural View of Persons
- Naturalism and the Soul
- Naturalism, Consciousness, and Values
- Beyond Naturalism
Top Highlights
“Causation consists of the exercise of a causal power by a substance upon itself or another substance, where this exercise of power produces an actualization of a capacity and that actualization is an effect event.” (Pages 55–56)
“there are two kinds of substances, each with its essential properties.” (Page 55)
“The crucial element uniting most of these broader forms of naturalism is that they reject the view that there is anything in the world that cannot (ultimately) be accounted for in terms of the sciences, including psychology, history, and so on. Broad naturalists allow for more than physics, chemistry, and biology, but they retain a stern resistance to appeals to any force beyond the natural world such as a transcendent God to account for the existence and character of nature.” (Page 8)
“A reason is a conceptual entity, what medieval thinkers called an ens rationis (literally ‘object of reason’) or intentional object, which is about or directed at the future and optative in mood (expressing a wish that the world be a certain way that is good).” (Pages 26–27)
“As we shall document in chapter 5, a naturalist argument that dualism is incoherent or obviously wrong is a central premise in the naturalist case against its chief rival, theism.” (Page 54)
Goetz and Taliaferro are qualified by an impressive record of relevant scholarly publications, but the book is concise and accessible to nonspecialists. . . . This book makes a strong, concise defense of theism and dualism and responds effectively to the best naturalist critics.
—Christian Research Journal
The best brief, yet comprehensive, treatment of naturalism to appear. . . . This book may be expected to enjoy a wide readership. For the minister, it will serve to expose the irrationality of naturalism in its attack on the supernaturalism that is foundational to our faith. For the educated layperson, particularly the scientist, it sets forth the contours of scientism . . . and serves to encourage the believing scientist to remember that what is foundational to science is not of the nature of science.
—Mid-America Journal of Theology
- Title: Naturalism
- Authors: Charles Taliaferro, Stewart Goetz
- Series: Interventions
- Publisher: Eerdmans
- Print Publication Date: 2008
- Logos Release Date: 2014
- Pages: 140
- Era: era:Contemporary
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Naturalism › Religious aspects--Christianity; Apologetics
- ISBNs: 9780802807687, 0802807682
- Resource ID: LLS:NATURALISMINTS
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T20:24:34Z
Charles Taliaferro is professor of philosophy at St. Olaf College. He is the author or editor of eight books, including Evidence and Faith: Philosophy and Religion since the Seventeenth Century.
Stewart Goetz is professor of philosophy at Ursinus College. He has authored numerous scholarly articles for such publications as Faith and Philosophy, American Philosophical Quarterly, and Mind.