Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Christian Podcast Central

Home
Evangelical - Sponsored
The Summit Lecture Series: Scientific Naturalism Worldview with JP Moreland, part 1

The Summit Lecture Series: Scientific Naturalism Worldview with JP Moreland, part 1

Last updated on: August 5, 2014 at 1:38 pm by Christian Podcast Central

The Summit Lecture Series: Scientific Naturalism Worldview with JP Moreland, part 1 2014-08-05T13:38:14-08:00 Christian Podcast Central

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

To purchase the entire Summit Lecture Series, Vol. 1 on DVD, go to: summit.org

We need to understand the very prominent worldview of Scientific Naturalism in order to grasp how people who hold this perspective think. You see there are many different prevailing worldviews in our culture today, and the main conflict is not whether or not Christianity is true, but whether or not it can be known to be true.

And Scientific Naturalism is one of the main culprits in the effort to convince our culture that Christianity cannot be known to be true. Now, there is an ontological and an epistemological dimension to Scientific Naturalism. (but what the heck does that mean?)

Ontology refers to “having to do with what is real”. So, if I were to ask you to give me your ontology, you would then share with me the things that you take to be real. Therefore, Buddhism has its ontology, Christianity has its ontology, and Naturalism has its ontology. Scientific Naturalism’s ontology is that the physical cosmos (or physical universe) of things in space and time is all that there is.

Now, this has two different components to it: Firstly, nothing exists outside of space and time. Now, even Plato believed that there are abstract entities such as humanness, numbers, the laws of logic, and so on. Many thinkers of Western Thought have believed that these things are real, but they don’t exist in space and time. For instance, if you were to ask me where the number two exists, I’d have to respond that it’s nowhere, but it is real. However, subscribers to the Scientific Naturalism worldview, who only count things that exist in time and space as real dismiss things such as: God, Plutonic forms, numbers, and the like.

The second component to the ontology of Scientific Naturalism is that within the physical world, everything that exists within the physical world is physical, or at the very least is dependent on the physical. So that means that everything that exists can be described by chemistry and physics. Therefore, it would follow that we humans have a brain but not a soul. Animals and humans are hence reduced to their brains and central nervous systems.

The Scientific Naturalist would also hold that consciousness is merely brain states occurring within a person or animal’s brain. To be more precise, the feeling of love is simply an electrochemical activity in the brain.

So, here’s the picture: The physical world is all there is. There’s nothing outside of the physical universe, and in fact everything within the universe is physical.

Now, where does this idea come from? It comes from the Scientific Naturalist epistemology. Or, to put is more simply, the Naturalist view of what is real comes from the Naturalist’s theory of knowledge. You see, epistemology refers to the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge and is also referred to as “theory of knowledge”.

And, like their ontology, there are also two components to the Scientific Naturalist’s epistemology: Empiricism and Scientism.

Empiricism is the idea that only what can be tested with the five senses can be known. When we consider this component more carefully, we would be able to know if someone has a brain, but not if they have a mind in addition to their brain, since the mind cannot be observed or tested with the five senses. Therefore, the Scientific Naturalist rules out the existence of the human mind. Likewise, demons do not exist since they (allegedly) cannot be seen, tasted, heard, felt, or smelt. God and moral values are also ruled out since only what you can observe with the five senses can be known.

This has led to a more sophisticated version called Scientism. Scientism is the idea that only what you can test and measure scientifically can be known.

For more engaging and equipping videos and podcasts, visit the E-Squared Media Network at www.e2medianetwork.com

Uncategorized

christian

christian culture podcast

christianity

discipleship

is the bible reliable

Scientific Naturalism

Previous Post

August 5, 2014

Confessions of a Closet Christian 33: How Can Good Things Become Idols?

Next Post

August 6, 2014 Blending Your StepFamily 42: Parenting ‘Tweens During A Divorce or Separation

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Brad Stine Has Issues Christian Podcast Central Classic Podcast Experience God Life Grounded Ouxano Parent Like You Mean It The Protest Show with Thor Ramsey The Summit Lecture Series Uncategorized What You’ve Been Searching For

Select a Month July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 June 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz