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33 - Naturalism

from Part VI - Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries: Intellectual and Artistic Currents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 September 2021

Michael Ruse
Affiliation:
Florida State University
Stephen Bullivant
Affiliation:
St Mary's University, Twickenham, London
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Summary

On the question of God, both religious and non-religious thinkers typically regard naturalism as the obvious and primary way to challenge supernaturalism. Naturalism is distinctive among philosophical worldviews for its reliance on the sciences. Other chapters recount how developments in specific scientific fields, such as biology, affected the intellectual climate around the question of God’s existence. Naturalism’s own role also deserves to be told. Naturalism as a comprehensive worldview only congealed during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and confronted God with the staunchest atheist philosophy to ever challenge supernaturalism. Modern naturalism elevated four main approaches to prominence for refuting supernaturalism: (1) scientific theorizing is genuinely explanatory, while religion is not; (2) nature’s energies are causally closed, forbidding divine interaction; (3) scientific skepticism is warranted toward alleged revelations and miracles; and (4) naturalistic theories explaining religion’s origin and function need no deities.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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  • Naturalism
  • Edited by Stephen Bullivant, St Mary's University, Twickenham, London
  • Michael Ruse, Florida State University
  • Book: The Cambridge History of Atheism
  • Online publication: 25 September 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108562324.034
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Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Naturalism
  • Edited by Stephen Bullivant, St Mary's University, Twickenham, London
  • Michael Ruse, Florida State University
  • Book: The Cambridge History of Atheism
  • Online publication: 25 September 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108562324.034
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Naturalism
  • Edited by Stephen Bullivant, St Mary's University, Twickenham, London
  • Michael Ruse, Florida State University
  • Book: The Cambridge History of Atheism
  • Online publication: 25 September 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108562324.034
Available formats
×