1. NATURALISM Pascual • San Juan • San Miguel • Silvestre
Tamayo • Tan • Teodoro • Valencia • Yeung
Reporting in ChE 525
March 5, 2016

2. Introduction
San Miguel. John Andre N.

3. Introduction Naturalism/Natural Ethics
method for evaluating morality using objective reasoning devoid of religious or authoritative dogma
Objective Reasoning – the use of facts
Dogma – a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted
Popular to Free thinkers
Encompasses the three branches of human understanding

4. Branches of Human Understanding

5. Metaphysics
“The nature of reality” Relationships between mind and matter, substance and attribute, fact and value View of naturalism: everything is composed of natural entities

6. “Nature of knowledge” and “How we come to know”
Epistemology
“Nature of knowledge” and “How we come to know”
Includes presuppositions and foundation, and its extent and validity.
View of naturalism:
1. acceptable methods of justification and explanation are continuous
2. human subject as a natural phenomena
3. the use of empirical science

7. Ethics
“Nature of Action” and “What we should do” Set of principles of “right conduct” or system of moral values

8. Naturalistic Ethics
"The view that ethical conclusions are derivable in non-ethical natural terms, from non-ethical premises, and that ethical properties are natural properties.  Naturalism takes ethical knowledge to be empirical and accordingly models it on the paradigm of the natural sciences."
“Non-natural” ethical theories – subjective opinions, unverifiable religious faith or authoritative dogma
Conclusion: Moral behaviour = Rational Action

9. Naturalistic Ethics
A form of Moral Reliasm: allows reasoning by “anyone” through the use of emipirical facts
Subject to “on going inquiry and verification”
Derived from what is consistently observable – “empirical facts”

10. Naturalism from Natural Sciences
Biological Naturalism VS Evolutionary Ethics
KEY: both are derived from the view that biology is the most pertinent of the sciences for discerning correct human behavior.

11. Biological Naturalism
The view that mental phenomena such as consciousness and intentionality are natural biological phenomena on a par with growth, digestion, or photosynthesis.
Implications:
1. the mind is a biological phenomenon, with no immaterial spirits or special 'life forces' involved
2. all human motivation and thought is 'based' on innate predispositions evolved in the mental processing mechanisms of our species.

12. Evolutionary Ethics
A body of theory which seeks to locate moral institutions within the main ideas of evolutionary biology.
“We value things and persons in accordance with their capacity to sustain and maintain 'survival' in evolutionary terms."
“That which facilitates the survival of our species defines ’good'; and conversely, that which deters from the survival of our species defines 'bad'.

13. History of Naturalism
Benedict Tamayo

14. Pre- Socratic Philosophers
History
Pre- Socratic Philosophers
These philosophers
sought to explain
everything by
reference to
natural causes alone.
Thales Anaxagoras Democritus

15. Metaphysical Naturalism Western phenomenon
History
Atomism- explains everything that exists as the product of atoms moving in a void
Aritotelianism- explains everything that exists as the inevitable outcome of uncreated natural forces or tendencies
Metaphysical Naturalism
Western phenomenon

16. Age of Enlightenment- Materialism
History
With the rise and dominance of Christianity, Metaphysical Naturalism became heretical and illegal
Age of Enlightenment- Materialism

17. Typical Beliefs of Naturalism
Corina C. Tan

18. Beliefs:
The universe has either always existed or had a purely natural origin.
Life is an unplanned product of natural processes and luck.
Slow and imperfect evolution by natural selection is the explanation for the rise and diversity of life on earth.
Mental contents exist solely as the computational constructions of our brains, and not as things that exist independently of us.

19. Beliefs:
5. All humans are mortal since the death or destruction of our brain cannot be survived.
6. Humans have developed culture and civilization.
We evolved as social animals.
7. All conduct and behaviour should be directed towards the pursuit of human happiness.

20. Metaphysical Naturalism
Areeya Kyra D. Teodoro

21. Metaphysical Naturalism
Substantial view about the nature of reality
Metaphysical naturalism holds that supernatural things (spirits, ghosts, gods) are not real
Denies the existence of a transcendent God
“Nature is all there is”
Metaphysical Naturalism is a belief that nature is all that exists, and that all things supernatural including gods, spirits, souls, do not exist.
It rejects the supernatural concepts and explanations that are part of many religions; Naturalism, therefore, is a metaphysical philosophy opposed primarily by biblical creationism.
That is why philosophers concerned with religion tend to be less enthusiastic about naturalism, and most naturalists are non-believers

22. Methodological Naturalism
Another type of naturalism is the methodological naturalism
Methodological naturalism is concerned not with claims about what exists but with methods of learning what nature is
Camille Ann C. Valencia

23. Methodological Naturalism
observable events in nature are explained by natural events
Considers supernatural explanations to be outside science
Scientific method is the only way to investigate reality and empirical methods will ascertain natural facts
Methodological naturalism is the assumption that observable events in nature are explained only by natural events, without assuming either the existence or non-existence of the supernatural.
 considers supernatural explanations for such events to be outside science
 It holds that the scientific method (hypothesize, predict, test, repeat) is the only effective way to investigate reality, and that such empirical methods will only ascertain natural facts, whether supernatural facts exist or not.

24. Absolute Methodological Naturalism
Supernatural facts are impossible to be discovered by empirical methods
Absolute Methodological Naturalism is the view that it is in some sense impossible for any empirical method to discover supernatural facts, even if there are some.

25. Contingent Methodological Naturalism
Empirical methods are far more likely to uncover natural facts than supernatural ones-
is generally an ill-advised waste of resources to pursue supernatural hypotheses
But if found, supernatural hypothesis would not be impossible to confirm
Contingent Methodological Naturalism is the view that, from past experience, empirical methods are far more likely to uncover natural facts than supernatural ones, so that it is generally an ill-advised waste of resources to pursue supernatural hypotheses, but it would not be impossible to confirm them empirically if any were found.

26. Humanistic Naturalism
Another type of naturalism is the methodological naturalism
Methodological naturalism is concerned not with claims about what exists but with methods of learning what nature is
Angelyn Yeung

27. Humanistic Naturalism
Humanistic Naturalism holds that human beings are best able to control and understand the world through use of the scientific method, because concepts of spirituality, intuition and metaphysics can never progress beyond personal opinion.
Everything is regarded as a result of explainable processes within nature, with nothing lying outside of it.
What science cannot discover, mankind cannot know. Bert Russell
Scientific method is the only reliable way of reaching truths about man, society, and nature. Sidney hook
There is but one sure road of access to truth the road of patient, cooperative inquiry operating by means of observation, experiment, record and controlled reflection. John Dewey

28. Ethical Naturalism
Another type of naturalism is the methodological naturalism
Methodological naturalism is concerned not with claims about what exists but with methods of learning what nature is

29. Ethical Naturalism
Ethical Naturalism is the meta-ethical doctrine that there are objective moral properties of which we have empirical knowledge
These properties are reducible to entirely non- ethical or natural properties, such as needs, wants or pleasures.

30. Meta-Ethics
Meta-ethics is the branch of ethics that seeks to understand the nature of ethical properties, statements, attitudes, and judgments. Meta-ethics is one of the four branches of ethics generally recognized by philosophers, the others being descriptive ethics, normative ethics and applied ethics.

31. Meta-Ethics
Normative ethics addresses such questions as "What should I do?", thus endorsing some ethical evaluations and rejecting others
Meta-ethics addresses questions such as "What is goodness?" and "How can we tell what is good from what is bad?", seeking to understand the nature of ethical properties and evaluations.

32. Ethical Naturalism
Most ethical naturalists hold that we have empirical knowledge of moral truths.
Ethical naturalism was implicitly assumed by many modern ethical theorists, particularly utilitarians.

33. Ethical naturalism stands in opposition to:
Ethical non-naturalism - which denies that moral terms refer to anything other than irreducible moral properties
Ethical subjectivism - which denies that moral propositions refer to objective facts
Error theory - which denies that any moral propositions are true
Non-cognitivism - which denies that moral sentences express propositions at all.

34. Ethical Naturalism
The most plausible natural properties are certain psychological properties. The identity claim is a reduction because we have ‘reduced’ moral properties – which we might have thought were a different kind of thing – to psychological properties, i.e. there is nothing more to moral properties than being a certain kind of psychological property.

35. Sociological Naturalism
Another type of naturalism is the methodological naturalism
Methodological naturalism is concerned not with claims about what exists but with methods of learning what nature is
Jamie San Juan

36. Sociological Naturalism
Sociology is a social science concerned with the study of human social relationships and the various ways these relationships are patterned in terms of social groups, organisations and societies.
Contingent Methodological Naturalism is the view that, from past experience, empirical methods are far more likely to uncover natural facts than supernatural ones, so that it is generally an ill-advised waste of resources to pursue supernatural hypotheses, but it would not be impossible to confirm them empirically if any were found.

37. Sociological Naturalism
the sociological theory that the natural world and the social world are roughly identical and governed by similar principles
closely connected to Positivism, which advocates use of the scientific method of the natural sciences in studying social sciences.
Contingent Methodological Naturalism is the view that, from past experience, empirical methods are far more likely to uncover natural facts than supernatural ones, so that it is generally an ill-advised waste of resources to pursue supernatural hypotheses, but it would not be impossible to confirm them empirically if any were found.

38. Confucius Everything ‘thrives according to nature’
Human behavior should
avoid extremes and seek
moderation when things
function in accordance
with this principle of the Mean.

39. Principle of Mean provides a standard measure for all things
'relationship of natural dependence', i.e. the principle requires reciprocal cooperation between people and between people and nature.
measure of correct behavior correlates to naturalistic ethics. The "reciprocity between people and nature" corresponds to modern concept of ecological awareness.

40. Stoicism Ces Angelin C. Silvestre
Another type of naturalism is the methodological naturalism
Methodological naturalism is concerned not with claims about what exists but with methods of learning what nature is
Ces Angelin C. Silvestre

41. Stoicism an ancient Greek philosophy
developed by Zeno of Citium around 300 B.C.
further developed later by Roman philosophers including Epictetus and Seneca.
The famous emporer Marcus Aurelius
"stoic" = "stoa poikile“=painted porch or colonnade
teaches the development of self- control and fortitude as a means of overcoming destructive emotions

42. Stoicism
Stoicism is not just a set of beliefs or ethical claims, but rather a way of life
The major goal of Stoicism is to lead man to arrive at happiness by achieving the true good thing in life
The Stoics focus on two things:
1. How can we lead a fulfilling, happy life?
2. How can we become better human beings?

43. Stoicism
The Stoic ethical teaching is based upon two principles already developed in their physics:
first, that the universe is governed by absolute law, which admits of no exceptions; and
second, that the essential nature of humans is reason.
Both are summed up in the famous Stoic maxim,
"Live according to nature"

44. "Live according to nature"
obviously directed at humans
Nor does the instruction mean to tell us to eat, breathe, bathe etc,
‘Live according to the way human nature is meant to change and grow'
For this maxim has two aspects:
People should adhere to their environment
People conform to their own essential nature by reason
the first place, that men should conform themselves to nature in the wider sense, that is, to the laws of the universe, and
secondly, that they should conform their actions to nature in the narrower sense, to their own essential nature, reason.

45. Some things are in our control and others not.
Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions.
Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions.
the stoic should try not to desire or have aversions because he who fails to obtain the object of his desire is disappointed

46. In this respect, Stoicism is a kind of coping strategy.
Since we all naturally want to be happy, the rational (Stoic) way to live is to train ourselves to limit our desires and concerns to what is up to us, and not to worry about, fear or get upset by things that are not up to us. 
In this respect, Stoicism is a kind of coping strategy. 
The central idea is to try to do the right thing, in every situation, without losing one’s calm, becoming frustrated or getting angry.
“Doing the right thing”
Stoic do not depend on luck
The Stoics believed that if we strive every day to do our best, then we can accept the rest.  That is, we can rightly take satisfaction in the lifelong enterprise of maintaining rational judgments and attempting virtuous actions.  Moreover, we can respect ourselves for the moral progress we achieve, and thus enjoy peace of mind and happiness regardless of how events in the world unfold. After all, we are responsible for what we try to achieve, but not for the outcomes of our attempts since those outcomes are subject to chance factors.

47. Three Topoi (Field of Study) of Stoicism
“The Discipline of Desire”, which has to do with acceptance of our fate
“The Discipline of Action”, which has to do with philanthropy or love of mankind
“The Discipline of Assent”, which has to do with mindfulness of our judgements

48. The familiar Serenity Prayer is thoroughly Stoic:
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”