Internet Infidels, once in the distant past the mother-site of this forum, is dedicated to philosophical naturalism. They define it as:
I can't help but feel that this has too many unwarranted assumptions. Why should one assume that the world (or the universe, which I think is really what is implied here) is a closed system? How could we possibly test this?
I am getting increasingly skeptical of the natural vs supernatural divide. How do you decide if something is natural or supernatural? Epicurus believed in the gods, but he also believed that they were made up of atoms like everything else. Are the Epicurean gods natural or supernatural?
It makes more sense to me to simply examine the world, and see what we find. If spirits existed, then that would be a fact about the world. Likewise with trolls, elves, dragons, and other creatures of mythologies and folklores around the world.
This thread will partially walk in the borderlands of science and philosophy. Or maybe it won't. We shall see.
Naturalism is the "hypothesis that the natural world is a closed system" in the sense that "nothing that is not a part of the natural world affects it." As such, "naturalism implies that there are no supernatural entities," such as gods, angels, demons, ghosts, or other spirits, "or at least none that actually exercises its power to affect the natural world." And without miraculous interventions into nature from a spiritual realm, neither prayer nor magick are more effective than a placebo.
I can't help but feel that this has too many unwarranted assumptions. Why should one assume that the world (or the universe, which I think is really what is implied here) is a closed system? How could we possibly test this?
I am getting increasingly skeptical of the natural vs supernatural divide. How do you decide if something is natural or supernatural? Epicurus believed in the gods, but he also believed that they were made up of atoms like everything else. Are the Epicurean gods natural or supernatural?
It makes more sense to me to simply examine the world, and see what we find. If spirits existed, then that would be a fact about the world. Likewise with trolls, elves, dragons, and other creatures of mythologies and folklores around the world.
This thread will partially walk in the borderlands of science and philosophy. Or maybe it won't. We shall see.