Naturalism (philosophy)

"Whatever plausibility the machine theory has- and it has much plausibility and is a rich model for psychology and neurology- it gains by being associated with a self-exemption clause...If you believe that you are not a machine, but that I am, I do not know why you are reading this book."

"In short, I argue "naturalism" means, in the simplest terms, that every mental thing is entirely caused by fundamentally nonmental things, and is entirely dependent on nonmental things for its existence. Therefore, "supernaturalism" means that at least some mental things cannot be reduced to nonmental things."

"In somewhat plainer English, what this means is this: if Carrier Naturalism (or CN) is true, then all minds, and all the contents and powers and effects of minds, are entirely caused by natural phenomena. But if naturalism is false, then some minds, or some of the contents or powers or effects of minds, are causally independent of nature. In other words, such things would then be partly or wholly caused by themselves, or exist or operate directly or fundamentally on their own."

"Methodological naturalism requires scientific theories to mention only natural things. One problem with this suggestion is that scientists are constantly postulating new entities, such as quantum wavefunctions, quarks, and genes. And who is to say whether or not these entities are natural? What are the defining characteristics of natural entities? The problem before us, then, is to complete the following definition:NAT: x is natural just in case…But it would be extremely difficult to complete this definition in a way that would be useful for guiding scientific practice. First, it wouldn’t be helpful to define natural entities as those mentioned by our current best scientific theories. This is because methodological naturalism would then lead to extreme conservatism about ontology: no new entities should be introduced in science. Second, it wouldn’t be helpful to define “x is natural” in terms of the words “natural,” “supernatural,” or any synonym thereof. [...] Third, it wouldn’t be helpful to define “x is natural” in terms of space, time, energy, or mass. Contemporary science already defies simple intuitions about what is natural, and we can expect future science to do so to an even greater extent."

"What I call natural philosophy isn’t new, for it has been practiced in various ways by such distinguished philosophers as Thales, Aristotle, Epicurus, Lucretius, Bacon, Locke, Hume, Mill, Peirce, Russell (after 1920), Dewey, Quine (after 1950), and Kuhn. There are also many contemporary philosophers making progress on problems concerning the nature of knowledge, reality and ethics, without succumbing to the dogmas of analytic philosophy. Philosophy needs to be extraverted, directing its attention to real world problems and relevant scientific findings, not introverted and concerned only with its own history and techniques."

"If I saw indirect explanatory benefit in positing sensibilia, possibilia, spirits, a Creator, I would joyfully accord them scientific status too, on a par with such avowedly scientific posits as quarks and black holes. What then have I banned under the name of prior philosophy?"