From: Howard J. Van Till (hvantill@chartermi.net)
Date: Thu Oct 02 2003 - 12:36:39 EDT
>From: "Steve Petermann" <steve@spetermann.org>
> What does naturalism mean?
Steve,
I'm not sure what you are asking here, or why. Following is something you
have already read in my E. coli paper on the AAAS website. Did you not find
this sufficiently clear or helpful?
Howard Van Till
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The many faces of naturalism
In large part, the ID movement is a reaction to its leaders¹ perception that
the worldview of naturalism has effectively dominated the worlds of higher
education and professional science, and that it is now providing the
religious framework for the K-12 public educational system as well. The ID
movement is committed to the defeat of naturalism. But naturalism comes in
many different versions that must, I believe, be carefully distinguished
from one another. I find the following distinctions to be essential.
(1) I use the term maximal naturalism (or ontological naturalism) to denote
the comprehensive worldview built on the premise that Nature is all there
is‹there is no other form of being, no God or gods‹and that there is no
ultimate purpose in its existence, character, or historical development.
This point of view could also be identified by such labels as materialism
(the material/physical world is all there is) or atheism (there is no
transcendent God as envisioned by any of the theistic religions).
(2) I use the term minimal naturalism (it could also be called metaphysical
naturalism, but that name has additional connotations) to denote the family
of worldviews that reject the idea of supernatural action by any deity. All
actions (processes and events) in the universe are presumed to fall entirely
in the category of natural actions‹actions performed by members of the
natural world in ways that are wholly consistent with their own character
and capabilities. Although the existence of God, or gods, or purpose is
neither affirmed nor denied by minimal naturalism, the idea that any divine
being would act supernaturally‹that is, coercively overpowering or
superceding the natural actions of members of the universe, thereby
interrupting the flow of natural phenomena‹is rejected. (Intelligent Design
advocate Phillip Johnson frequently uses the term scientific naturalism,
which appears to be minimal naturalism, as here defined, substantially
modified by adding the assertions that natural actions are purposeless and
that science provides the only reliable pathway to knowledge. Given these
additions, Johnson¹s label, scientific naturalism, comes very close to what
we are calling maximal naturalism.)
(3) The term methodological naturalism is often employed to denote the idea
that the natural sciences have the competence to investigate natural actions
alone and must remain agnostic with regard to any form of divine action.
(4) Naturalistic theism builds its worldview on the premise that there is a
God who acts purposefully and effectively in the world, but this divine
action is always persuasive and never coercive. In contrast to the several
forms of supernaturalistic theism, naturalistic theism rejects coercive
supernatural intervention as something that would violate the essential
natures of God, the world, and the God-world relationship.
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