Encountering Naturalism: A Worldview and Its Uses (Perfect Paperback)

by Thomas W. Clark (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"This little book takes all those deep questions about life, meaning, purpose and death, and shows how you don't need religion to make sense of them - indeed how the naturalist way of thinking about the deepest issues is kinder and truer." --Dr. Susan Blackmore, author of The Meme Machine and Conversations on Consciousness

Don't misjudge the importance of Encountering Naturalism by its small size and inexpensive cost. It is packed with insights about naturalism and its implications for free will, for life's meaning and purpose, and for social and political issues. A must read for anyone wanting a fuller and deeper understanding of this important philosophical perspective. --Dr. William R. Murry, author of Reason and Reverence: Religious Humanism for the 21st Century

Encountering Naturalism is a wonderfully readable plunge deep into the implications of a thorough going naturalism. The naturalistic surface -- with its rejection of miracles and mysteries -- is well-mapped; but for anyone who wishes to explore the questions, perils, opportunities, and vistas far beneath that surface, there is no better or more engaging guide than Thomas W. Clark. --Bruce Waller, philosopher and author of The Natural Selection of Autonomy

Product Description
Most of us have a worldview, an overarching context for life that helps to shape our beliefs, goals and actions. This book explores the science-based worldview known as naturalism, a comprehensive and fulfilling alternative to faith-based religion and other varieties of dualism. Taking empirical science as the route to reliable knowledge, naturalism holds that we inhabit a single, natural world; there is no separate supernatural realm. We are fully physical beings whose origins lie in cosmic and biological evolution, thus we are entirely at home in the universe. By understanding and accepting our complete connection to the natural world, naturalism provides a secure foundation for human flourishing, an effective basis for achieving our purposes and addressing our deepest concerns. We don t need belief in the supernatural to sustain us. Nature, it turns out, is enough.

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Product Details

• Perfect Paperback: 103 pages
• Publisher: Center for Naturalism; 1st edition (March 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979111102
• ISBN-13: 978-0979111105
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #146,148 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A single natural world, May 23, 2007

By	Robert Kirk (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

As the author so clearly states, at the heart of naturalism is a commitment to a way of knowing about the world, a way of deciding what exists. This is the best way we have. The way of the scientific method. This is the use of empirical science, of evidence. That's what the bottom line is.... the fact is there is NO evidence that a supernatural domain occupied by supernatural entities exists. Science has brought us to the realization that all that exists, exists within the natural world. As Clark points out, this is an uplifting and liberating understanding that connects us to the rest of the universe. The author convincingly shows that having gone from polytheism to monotheism, the next step is naturalism. It is inevitable. We are propelled towards it by science. I It is certain, that this book is only the first of many to follow that will make it vividly clear.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent introduction to Naturalism as a worldview, September 17, 2007

By	Yonatan Fishman (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In this book, Encountering Naturalism: A Worldview and Its Uses, Thomas Clark, founder and director of the Center for Naturalism, provides a superb introduction to the worldview known as Naturalism, as contrasted with the supernatural worldview shared by most of the world's religions. The work is not intended as a philosophical or scientific defense of Naturalism, which can be found elsewhere (e.g., Richard Carrier's book Sense and Goodness Without God), but rather a consideration of the implications of Naturalism for our view of ourselves in relation to the rest of the universe and for the promotion of a compassionate and progressive society. Although Naturalism has been variously defined by different authors, at its core is the view that Nature is all there is, that there are no supernatural realms or entities, such as gods, spirits, and ghosts, and that human beings are fully embodied organisms embedded in the causal network of the universe. Moreover, Naturalists are generally committed to an evidence-based, rationalistic epistemology, as exemplified by the sciences. A key implication of Naturalism as a scientifically-informed worldview is that the mind is entirely dependent upon the operation of the physical brain, which is subject to the same basic physical laws as those governing the behavior of inanimate matter. We are fundamentally material beings whose perceptual and cognitive faculties are products of eons of biological evolution. Consequently, humans do not possess a disembodied soul that survives death; all of our choices and decision making processes are fully caused phenomena.

One of Clark's main themes concerns the implications of Naturalism for the question of free will. On this topic, Clark gives a clear, concise, and convincing presentation. If indeed our choices are fully caused by a combination of genetic and environmental influences, as suggested by our best scientific evidence to date, then we could not have done otherwise, given identical circumstances. Thus, the supernaturalistic concept of contra-causal free will is incoherent. Moreover, as Clark points out, injecting an indeterministic component into our decision making processes (e.g., by invoking quantum mechanical processes in the brain) in an effort to rescue contra-causal free will would not give us the free will we value, since this would simply make our choices random and thus entirely out of our control. In the final chapter of the book, Concerns and Reassurances, Clark persuasively argues that even if our choices are fully determined by circumstances beyond our ultimate control (e.g., we don't choose our genes or environmental influences), we are still to be held proximately responsible for our actions. Indeed, this responsibility follows precisely from the fact that our choices and actions are fully caused and not random. Importantly, Clark notes that determinism does not imply fatalism - the notion that the future outcome will be the same regardless of the choices one makes. On the contrary, because we are embedded in the causal network of the universe, the future course of our lives crucially depends on the choices we make.

Throughout the book, Clark thoughtfully considers the implications of Naturalism for social policy, for instance, concerning retributive justice. If, according to Naturalism, we are fully caused beings that could not have done otherwise given the same circumstances, then retributive punishment is unjustified. We can take neither ultimate credit nor ultimate blame for our actions, as anyone in our shoes would have done exactly the same. However, as Clark notes, this recognition does not by any means preclude the use of rewards and punishments to encourage and deter future actions. On the contrary, carrots and sticks are effective precisely because we are fully caused creatures. Further, understanding the biological and environmental causes of our actions makes us better equipped to shape and control our behavior in the interest of promoting human flourishing. Thus, a naturalistic, scientifically-informed view of ourselves can only lead to a more responsible, compassionate, and progressive society.

As a reviewer, I am obliged also to comment on areas in the book that I feel could have benefited from further clarification. According to Clark, Naturalism is an empirically-based worldview, defined by our best scientific understanding of the world. Naturalism is thus contrasted with supernatural worldviews characteristic of faith-based religions. Thus, Clark comments (p. 64) that science rules out supernatural explanations, since whatever supernatural entities or phenomena science discovers would become integrated into our unified conception of Nature. On the other hand, on the same page Clark states that science does not presume Naturalism- the denial of the supernatural. These statements may appear to some readers as contradictory. However, judging from Clark's other statements in the book and his endorsement of works (such as Dawkins', The God Delusion and Carrier's, Sense and Goodness Without God) that aim at debunking such `supernatural' entities from a scientific perspective, my impression is that Clark would agree that science, at least in principle, can confirm or disconfirm entities or phenomena that are commonly labeled as `supernatural', such as gods, spirits, ghosts, etc. Indeed, on page 4, Clark states that "...the denial of god is just one naturalistic conclusion we reach if we take an evidence-based view of the world". Conversely, in principle science may be able to detect a phenomenon commonly labeled as `supernatural' (e.g., beneficial effects of intercessory prayer), with the possibility of a naturalistic explanation for the phenomenon being highly unlikely (though not impossible). On Clark's view, however, such a discovery would simply render the efficacy of intercessory prayer a `natural' phenomenon. Ultimately, I suspect that this issue may boil down to a matter of labeling or semantics, i.e. how one chooses to define `natural' vs. `supernatural'. Clearly, if all entities or phenomena discovered by science, which might include gods, spirits, or ghosts, are to be defined as `natural', then science does exclude `supernatural' phenomena, but only as a matter of terminology. However, perhaps I have misinterpreted Clark's words here, in which case some further clarification of this point would be helpful, e.g., in a future edition. I unreservedly recommend Clark's book as an exemplary introduction to Naturalism as a worldview having significant implications for the promotion of a rational, compassionate, and progressive society.

Yonatan Fishman, PhD

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative and to the point., June 6, 2007

By	Richard Spencer "SkepDick" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was sleeping lightly one evening and was woken by a friend sending me an instant message asking, "Did you know Tom Clark wrote a book?" He included a link to order the book here on Amazon. That was at 4am; I ordered the book before I went back to sleep.

If you're looking for a full blown defense of naturalism against its critics, you won't find it here. That's not because Clark has failed to provide this defense, but because that was never the goal to begin with. What this book includes is a general introduction to what naturalism is and the what implications are that naturalism carries.

Even if you are a naturalist or atheist already, this book provides a convenient presentation of naturalism that is helpful in organizing ideas and seeing the connections between them. Simply because the book is short in length doesn't mean it's low in content! Clark offers insightful discussions of many topics including epsitemology, ethics, free will, and even personal relationships while offering plenty of references for further reading in case something he says spikes your interest.

The way this book discusses the implications of naturalism from a very broad view can even challenge many people who already accept the main tenet of naturalism--that the natural world is all there is. Have you really understood naturalism and how it applies directly to your everyday life, or do you perhaps have fragments lurking in the shadows of your mind from the supernaturalistic worldview you thought you discarded? Reading this book is a good way to address this question.

Also, you can't beat the price. You'll probably spend more than the price of this book on dinner tonight. So, skip the appetizers (they're too expensive anyway) and dessert (you know you need to drop a couple of pounds before you hit the beach next month) and instead treat yourself to this delightful book. You'll be glad you did.