Harmless Naturalism: The Limits of Science and the Nature of Philosophy

by Robert F. Almeder

Book Overview

In seeking to defend a form of naturalism that avoids both scientism and the reduction of philosophy to science, Robert Almeder defines philosophy and distinguishes it from the domain of natural science by showing how a good philosophical explanation, while empirically testable, differs from a good scientific explanation.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812693809
• ISBN13: 9780812693805
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Open Court
• Length: 235 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

moving cautiously beyond scientism...

I will quote from the Introduction (page 3): "Let me first briefly state this book's argument in a very general way. Scientism, as described in either of the two forms just noted, is rationally indefensible, and yet there is a defensible form of naturalism that does not directly or indirectly reduce philosophical explanations to scientific explanations--although philosophical explanations are implicitly empirically testable and hence confirmable or fasifiable. In short, I will defend a reasonably comprehensive naturalism while avoiding both scientism and the reduction of philosophical claims and explanations to stricly scientific claims and explanations. In so doing, I also hope to define philosophy by showing how a good philsophical explananation, while empirically testable, differs from a good scientfic explanation."