Naturalismo

In philosophy, naturalism is the idea or belief that only natural (as opposed to supernatural or spiritual) laws and forces operate in the universe. Adherents of naturalism assert that natural laws are the rules that govern the structure and behavior of the natural universe, that the changing universe at every stage is a product of these laws. Naturalism is not so much a special system as a point of view or tendency common to a number of philosophical and religious systems; not so much a well-defined set of positive and negative doctrines as an attitude or spirit pervading and influencing many doctrines. As the name implies, this tendency consists essentially in looking upon nature as the one original and fundamental source of all that exists, and in attempting to explain everything in terms of nature. Either the limits of nature are also the limits of existing reality, or at least the first cause, if its existence is found necessary, has nothing to do with the working of natural agencies. All events, therefore, find their adequate explanation within nature itself. But, as the terms nature and natural are themselves used in more than one sense, the term naturalism is also far from having one fixed meaning. \"  Naturalism can intuitively be separated into an ontological and a methodological component, argues David Papineau. Ontological refers to the philosophical study of the nature of being. Some philosophers equate naturalism with materialism. For example, philosopher Paul Kurtz argues that nature is best accounted for by reference to material principles. These principles include mass, energy, and other physical and chemical properties accepted by the scientific community. Further, this sense of naturalism holds that spirits, deities, and ghosts are not real and that there is no purpose in nature. Such an absolute belief in naturalism is commonly referred to as metaphysical naturalism. Assuming naturalism in working methods as the current paradigm, without the further consideration of naturalism as an absolute truth with philosophical entailment, is called methodological naturalism. With the exception of pantheists\"who believe that Nature is identical with divinity while not recognizing a distinct personal anthropomorphic god\"theists challenge the idea that nature contains all of reality. According to some theists, natural laws may be viewed as secondary causes of God(s). In the 20th century, Willard Van Orman Quine, George Santayana, and other philosophers argued that the success of naturalism in science meant that scientific methods should also be used in philosophy. Science and philosophy are said to form a continuum, according to this view.

El término naturalismo (del latín naturalis) se usa para denominar las corrientes filosóficas que consideran a la naturaleza como el principio único de todo aquello que es real. Es un sistema filosófico y de creencias que sostiene que no hay nada más que naturaleza, fuerzas y causas del tipo de las estudiadas por las ciencias naturales; estas existen para poder comprender nuestro entorno físico. El naturalismo mantiene que todos los conceptos relacionados con la consciencia y la mente hacen referencia a entidades que pueden ser reducidas a relaciones de interdependencia (superveniencia) con fuerzas y causas naturales. Más específicamente, rechaza la existencia objetiva de algo sobrenatural, como ocurre en las religiones humanas. También rechaza la idea de la teleología (atribuir a un proceso una finalidad), viendo todas aquellas cosas sobrenaturales como explicables en términos naturales. No se trata sobre una mera visión sobre los estudios científicos actuales, sino también de lo que la ciencia descubrirá en el futuro. El naturalismo ontológico tiene una visión no dual de la realidad.