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Natural Science And Naturalism Essay

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PHILOSOPHICAL COMMENTS

ON NATURALISM

We must not confuse Natural Science with Naturalism. Naturalism is the “philosophical belief” that everything can be explained by the development of newer findings in Natural Science, and that all seemingly spiritual or supernatural explanations will eventually give way to the newer findings arising out of the Natural Science’s methodology. Natural Science has its proper field in the study of natural phenomena and their classification and explanation according to their proper natural causes and the natural laws as discovered through the scientific method. It is only when the natural scientist essays to play the role …show more content…

It is rather a sign that human life is something that goes beyond material nature. The same goes for the mind of man and its intellectual ability to abstract concepts and ideas out of merely observing the natural world outside of itself. Freedom of the Will and the Intellect’s ability to form abstract concepts, two functions that are not found in nature, lead us to the strong premonition that both of these faculties of man are immaterial, and hence spiritual in nature. So too, if the method of physical science cannot discover or deal with freedom and the power of abstraction, the conclusion to draw is not that there is no freedom or abstract concepts, but that there may exist many things in reality which are not discoverable by the methods of physical science.

We have no a priori assurance that physical science is the one method for the discovery of all truth. In the search for truth we are not restricted to the use of any one method; and to rule out ahead of time all other methods (the use of logic, of revelation, of intuition) except the method of physical science is the highest form of pride and arrogance. It is a sign of a closed mind such as was described by

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