Naturalism in Question

Mario De Caro, David Macarthur, Mario De Caro, David Macarthur

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Year: 2008
• Print ISBN: 9780674030411, 9780674012950
• eBook ISBN: 9780674271975
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Epistemology in Philosophy

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 nonhuman. The new faith says science, not man, is the measure of all things. However, there is a growing skepticism about the adequacy of this complacent orthodoxy. This volume presents a group of leading thinkers who criticize 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 Dupré, 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 center of renewed--but still scientifically respectful--conceptions of philosophy and nature.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Acknowledgments
• Contents
• Introduction: The Nature of Naturalism
• Part I. Science and Reality
• Part II. Mind
• Chapter III. Agency
• Part IV. Ethical and Aesthetic Normativity
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Contributors
• Index