Liberal naturalism is a heterodox form of philosophical naturalism that lies in the conceptual space between scientific (or reductive) naturalism and supernaturalism. It allows that one can respect the explanations and results of the successful sciences without supposing that the sciences are our only resource for understanding humanity and our dealings with the world and each other.
The term "liberal naturalism" was introduced in 2004 by Mario De Caro & David Macarthur[1] and, independently, by Gregg Rosenberg.[2] This form of naturalism has been ascribed to Immanuel Kant.[3] In De Caro's work liberal naturalism is developed as a mild metaphysical realism; whereas in Macarthur's work liberal naturalism is associated with metaphysical quietism and opens into a philosophy of the manifest image.
- ^ De Caro, M. & Macarthur, D. Naturalism in Question (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, April 2004), p. 1.
- ^ Rosenberg, Gregg, A Place for Consciousness: Probing the Deep Structure of the Natural World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, November 2004), p. 77.
- ^ Hanna, Robert, Kant, Science, and Human Nature. Clarendon Press, 2006, p. 16.
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