Naturalism in Question - Hardcover

De Caro, Mario; Macarthur, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 067401295X ISBN 13: 9780674012950

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2004

Synopsis

Today the majority of philosophers in the English-speaking world adhere to the "naturalist" credos that philosophy is continuous with science, and that the natural sciences provide a complete account of all that exists - whether human or non-human. The new faith says science, not man, is the measure of all things. However, there is a growing scepticism about the adequacy of this complacent orthodoxy. This volume presents a group of leading thinkers who criticise scientific naturalism not in the name of some form of supernaturalism, but in order to defend a more inclusive or liberal naturalism. The many prominent Anglo-American philosophers appearing in this book - Akeel Bilgrami, Stanley Cavell, Donald Davidson, John Dupre, Jennifer Hornsby, Erin Kelly, John McDowell, Huw Price, Hilary Putnam, Carol Rovane, Barry Stroud, and Stephen White - do not march in lockstep, yet their contributions demonstrate mutual affinities and various unifying themes. Instead of attempting to force human nature into a restricted scientific image of the world, these papers represent an attempt to place human nature at the centre of renewed - but still scientifically respectful - conceptions of philosophy and nature.

About this title

Review

It is a remarkably congenial collection of papers by a distinguished lineup of philosophers. There are two different types of argument to be found in these papers. The first shows how an uncritical adoption of this orthodox naturalist institution either misconstrues or underdetermines phenomena such as science itself, the mind, agency, ethics, and personal identity. On the second line, what is needed to avoid straying into the impasses of underdetermination (as the orthodox naturalist does) and dualism (as the normativist does) is a fresh and unbiased look at our conception of 'nature, ' 'the natural, ' 'naturalism, ' and kindred concepts such as those of 'dispositions, ' 'causation, ' and 'science'...The result is a critical view of the explanans that is taken for granted by the orthodox naturalist, and used by the normativist as a foil for defining normative relations. Pursuing this line of argument is necessary if we want to avoid the shortcomings of both orthodox naturalist and nor

About the Author

Mario De Caro is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Universita Roma Tre. David Macarthur is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Sydney.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 067401295X
• ISBN 13: 9780674012950
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352