Christian responses to philosophical naturalism and empirical knowledge

Christian Response to Philosophical Naturalism

Generally, philosophical naturalism is a worldview that suggests that the universe is a completely closed system that is strictly governed by physical laws and by mathematical constants that are definitively identifiable, in principle, through the human process of empirical analysis. As such, there can never be any possible explanation for anything in the universe that does not fit within empirical knowledge or within the objectively provable laws of science in general and that, in particular, physical concepts cannot ever be explained or understood except through the laws of physics.

The first major philosophical assumption made by philosophical naturalists is that there is no such thing as any a priori knowledge that lies outside of objectively provable fact. Therefore, philosophical naturalism necessarily rejects any belief in any God or Higher Power because those beliefs are not necessarily provable empirically through scientific principles and are not necessarily capable of being observed or measured scientifically. The second major philosophical assumption made by philosophical naturalists is that the very process of human philosophical thought must also conform to scientific principles and empirically provable ideas. Therefore, philosophical naturalism necessarily rejects any explanations that are not provable through strictly logical analysis and human reasoning abilities.

Historical Overview of Philosophical Naturalism (200 words)

The ideas of philosophical naturalism date back to before the age of Socrates and the other classic Greek philosophers. During the Ionian period, early scientists such as 6th century intellectual Thales of Miletus first suggested that events on earth were explainable by discoverable physical processes and events without any need for Divine or other supernatural origin of those processes or events. Those ideas were later embraced during the early Middle Ages by the Scholastic philosophers. Subsequently, other philosophers tried to reconcile the naturalism approach with Christianity by postulating that many (or most) events and physical processes on earth were the product of natural, empirically provable ideas but that God also existed and sometimes chose to intervene to change the course of otherwise natural events and occurrences.

The philosophy of naturalism gained significant momentum when Galileo Galilei published his astronomical observations and argued that the laws of nature are inviolable including by God. Subsequently, throughout the Enlightenment period, philosophers such as Voltaire and Francis Bacon argued that any explanation for events on earth that were not scientifically provable was necessarily false and that perspective gained popularity and strength throughout the Scientific Revolution and the Industrial Revolution. In the modern era, philosophers such as Earnest Nagel and John Dewey argued specifically that the natural world provided sufficient explanation for all earthly events and astronomical observations and they coined the term naturalism for that philosophical perspective.

Implications for Christian Teachers (200-300 words)

For contemporary Christian educators, the perspective of philosophical naturalism can present a legitimate challenge to the teachings of Christianity and of other religious perspectives, at least in the minds of skeptics. On one hand, Christian teachers must focus on Christian ideals and philosophy; on the other hand, if they are unprepared to respond to some of the more common beliefs and skeptical positions of others, they may be less than optimally effective educators. The first step in addressing the ideas promoted by those who adhere to philosophical naturalism would be to demonstrate a complete familiarity with and understanding of those ideas. That alone helps establish more credibility when countering those arguments than a Christian educator who is not capable of discussing those ides intelligently. The next step in addressing those ideas would be to try to demonstrate that one cannot possibly argue against the existence of any a priori beliefs by presupposing an a priori belief in the very process. The Christian educator can suggest that one cannot argue that "there are no givens…except that there are no givens" because that is, itself, a given.

The Christian educator should also be able to demonstrate familiarity with some of the more common scientific explanations of the existence of the universe, particularly since even scientists acknowledge that there is a specific point shortly after the supposed "Big Bang" before which even the laws of physics prove that no empirical calculations can possibly be drawn because the laws of physics necessarily break down as a function of Einstein's Relativity Theory.

Sources Consulted