What's the difference between materialism and naturalism?

[Lord Kenneth]

Materialism

Materialism is the view that the only thing that exists is matter; if anything else, such as mental events, exists, then it is reducible to matter.

....The definition of "matter" in modern philosophical materialism extends to all scientifically observable entities such as energy, forces, and the curvature of space.

-wikipedia.org

Naturalism
The system of thought holding that all phenomena can be explained in terms of natural causes and laws.

-dictionary.com


For example, I saw reprise mention he believes in naturalism and not materialism. What's the difference?

If I had to guess I'd say that materialism's definition has just evolved into being the same as naturalim due to advancements in science (as materialism in the past is not the same materialism of today).

[reprise]

naturalism

Belief that all objects, events, and values (http://www.philosophypages.com/dy/v.htm#value) can be wholly explained in terms of factual (http://www.philosophypages.com/dy/f.htm#fava) and/or causal (http://www.philosophypages.com/dy/c2.htm#cause) claims about the world, without reference to supernatural powers or authority.

materialism

Belief that only physical things truly exist (http://www.philosophypages.com/dy/e9.htm#exist). Materialists claim (or promise) to explain every apparent instance of a mental phenomenon as a feature of some physical object.

from Philiosophical Dictionary (http://www.philosophypages.com/dy/index.htm)

Naturalism allows that "the unexplained" may be caused by forces or mechanisms we are yet to discover, but rejects the possibility of those forces or mechanisms being "supernatural" - in other words, we will ultimately be able to understand and explain them in terms of nature and the laws by which they are governed will be natural laws.

There are different theories of both materialism and naturalism.

BTW, I'm female. :)

[Lord Kenneth]

Originally posted by reprise
naturalism

Belief that all objects, events, and values (http://www.philosophypages.com/dy/v.htm#value) can be wholly explained in terms of factual (http://www.philosophypages.com/dy/f.htm#fava) and/or causal (http://www.philosophypages.com/dy/c2.htm#cause) claims about the world, without reference to supernatural powers or authority.

materialism

Belief that only physical things truly exist (http://www.philosophypages.com/dy/e9.htm#exist). Materialists claim (or promise) to explain every apparent instance of a mental phenomenon as a feature of some physical object.

from Philiosophical Dictionary (http://www.philosophypages.com/dy/index.htm)

Naturalism allows that "the unexplained" may be caused by forces or mechanisms we are yet to discover, but rejects the possibility of those forces or mechanisms being "supernatural" - in other words, we will ultimately be able to understand and explain them in terms of nature and the laws by which they are governed will be natural laws.

There are different theories of both materialism and naturalism.

BTW, I'm female. :)

I have asked to move this topic, as it is on the wrong fbard. My mistake.


Wouldn't materialism just say that those unknown forces are still physical in nature, although currently unexplained? It seems they both maintain that things can be explained by the natural world and supernatural entities are not needed.

I still don't see a real difference.

[Stimpson J. Cat]

Lord Kenneth,

Wouldn't materialism just say that those unknown forces are still physical in nature, although currently unexplained? It seems they both maintain that things can be explained by the natural world and supernatural entities are not needed.

I still don't see a real difference.

What you have hit on here is that materialism is naturalistic.

Go back to the descriptions you posted:

Materialism is the view that the only thing that exists is matter; if anything else, such as mental events, exists, then it is reducible to matter.

....The definition of "matter" in modern philosophical materialism extends to all scientifically observable entities such as energy, forces, and the curvature of space.

Naturalism is the system of thought holding that all phenomena can be explained in terms of natural causes and laws.

Note that naturalism says nothing about how those explanations are obtained, verified, etc...

I look at it this way: Naturalism is an assumption about the nature of reality. Modern materialism is a philosophical framework for understanding reality. One of the axioms of materialism is naturalism, so materialism is naturalistic. That doesn't mean that it is the only naturalistic framework. It is just the only naturalistic framework which actually provides us with a reliable method for discovering those natural laws, and for testing and verifying them.

There are naturalistic versions of both Idealism and Dualism, but in order to derive the scientific method from them, you have to make all of the same assumptions that modern materialism does. You just end up making additional ones as well. Likewise, classical metaphysical materialism is also naturalistic, even though it makes more assumptions than modern materialism.


Dr. Stupid