Methodological Naturalists Need Not Commit to Metaphysical Naturalism

Why methodological naturalism?∗

I discuss motivations for methodological naturalism in science. I argue that methodological naturalism neither needs nor supports metaphysical naturalism. We are the beneficiaries of many generations’ efforts to unlock the mysteries of nature. The best scientific theories of today have achieved unparalleled predictive success, and this success provides some evidence that these theories have lat...

TO COMMIT or NOT TO COMMIT ?

Methodological naturalism and epistemic internalism

Epistemic naturalism holds that the results or methodologies from the cognitive sciences are relevant to epistemology, and some have maintained that scientific methods are more compatible with externalist theories of justification than with internalist theories. But practically all discussions about naturalized epistemology are framed exclusively in terms of cognitive psychology, which is only ...

Metaphysical Naturalism, Semantic Normativity, and Meta-Semantic Irrealism

Semantic discourse-discourse employing notions like meaning and truth-gives rise to questions about the semantics, metaphysics, and epistemology of such notions: What sort of metaphysical commitments does semantic discourse (as ordinarily used) involve? Does such discourse commit us to the existence of semantic properties and facts? If so, are there such properties and facts?

Design 18 : 2 Methodological Naturalism ? Part 2

[This is the second part of a two-part article.] The philosophical doctrine of methodological naturalism is flawed. In many areas, science is not religiously neutral. Furthermore, neither claims about the definition or essential nature of science, nor theological presuppositions (e.g., "functional integrity"), can properly support methodological naturalism. However, one may find stronger suppor...