Currents in Naturalism

September - October 2009

Additions to Naturalism.Org

~ Tennis Without a Net: The Emptiness of the Supernatural Hypothesis - review of The Recalcitrant Imago Dei: Human Persons and the Failure of Naturalism, by J.P. Moreland.

~ Knowledge and the Meaning of Life - the big picture from Carlo Cellucci.

~ Free Will Skepticism: Where Are the Skeptics? - a good debunking needed.

_________________________________________________

Heads Up

~ Dr. Ginger Campbell interviews CFN director Tom Clark on worldview naturalism at Books and Ideas, transcript here.

~ Freethought events, courtesy of the Secular Web and Jason Torpy.

~ Duke philosopher Alex Rosenberg contributes "The Disenchanted Naturalist's Guide to Reality" to the Forum at On the Human, November 9-19, public commentary invited.

~ The New Humanism - debut issue of an online magazine.

~ Stephen Batchelor, author of Buddhism Without Beliefs and the forthcoming Confession of a Buddhist Atheist, speaks at Harvard Science Center, Auditorium D, Cambridge, MA on October 8, 8 pm, details here.

~ A naturalist tries out Buddhism: the Natural Buddhist blog, and not to forget thinkBuddha.org, the Center for Pragmatic Buddhism and Susan Blackmore's TenZenBlog and Psychology Today blog.

~ Does free will matter? Richard Carrier: not at all; Tom Clark: very much so - an exchange between naturalists.

~ Psychologist John Bargh explains why people "believe in free will when it suits their purposes, and not when it doesn't."

~ "Freedom from free will" - forthcoming in Free Inquiry, December 2009, in response to Tibor Machan's worries in "After free will" in the August-September issue.

~ The Law and Neuroscience blog of the MacArthur Law and Neuroscience Project, hosted by philosopher Thomas Nadelhoffer.

~ Less crime, less punishment: Mark Kleiman discusses his new book When Brute Force Fails at Bloggingheads, with Raihan Salam.

~ Consciousness, control and responsibility: Chris Suhler and Pat Churchland's paper on unconscious control gets discussed at the Garden of Forking Paths.

~ Discussion of Alan Sokal on the importance of the scientific worldview and its progressive implications, at Salty Currents; Harold Fromm, author of The Nature of Being Human, reviews Sokal here.

~ How are progressives different? They believe in luck - Jacksmind at Daily Kos.

~ Diversions: FlashForward, ABC's new series on time and fate, gets reviewed in the Times.

~ Books of note:

~ The Recalcitrant Imago Dei: Human Persons and the Failure of Naturalism, by J. P. Moreland, reviewed here.

~ Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe - by Harvard Humanist chaplain Greg Epstein.

~ Religious Naturalism Today: The Rebirth of a Forgotten Alternative, by Jerry Stone.

~ The Future of Naturalism, John Shook & Paul Kurtz, editors.

~ Understanding Naturalism, by Jack Ritchie, a good introduction to modern academic philosophical naturalism, its varieties, concerns and controversies.

~ Fifty Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists - and, more broadly, naturalists.

[back to contents]

_________________________________________________

Memeing Naturalism

The Mitigation Response: Getting Smart on Crime

The French proverb has it that “tout comprendre, c’est tout pardonner” – to understand all is to forgive all. Although it isn’t good interpersonal or social policy to forgive those who show no sincere signs of regret, or could continue to harm us, the saying nevertheless captures an important feature of human psychology. Understanding the causal antecedents of wrongful behavior, and more basically seeing that it had causal antecedents – it didn’t come out of the blue – often reduces blame focused on the offender. We see the role of the factors that created him and the opportunity for wrongdoing, and know that had those been different, he might well not have done wrong. This in effect distributes causal responsibility for the offense, so that the offender ceases to be an ultimate, point-like originator of action.

It’s appropriate that this change in our perception of causal responsibility mitigates perceived blameworthiness. To blame is to assign responsibility and seek redress, and as it becomes clear the offender is not self-made, but only the most proximate cause of harm, the smart course of action is to widen the scope of redress to include his causes – his formative environment and current situation. The tendency for blame focused on the offender to diminish in light of his causal story is an adaptive reallocation of emotional and attentional resources. It frees us up to consider a wider, more effective strategy in preventing future wrong-doings.

- continued here -

[back to contents]

________________________________________________

Ongoing Activities

~ Naturalism Meetups - monthly get-togethers for those wanting to explore and meme naturalism.

~ Philosophy Cafe @ Harvard Book Store - monthly philosophical discussions on any number of topics; moderated, with refreshments. No worldview commitment required.

[back to contents]

_______________________________________________________

Resources

For those interested in learning more about naturalism, or in participating in outreach, research, and writing in collaboration with the CFN, here are a few resources, online and otherwise.

Causality Consulting - practical philosophical consultation that's science-based, short-term, and results-driven.

Encountering Naturalism: A Worldview and Its Uses - "the little orange book of naturalism" is in its second printing, available at Amazon. About the book, see

Point of Inquiry interview with DJ Grothe
Faith and Freethought interview with Richard Spencer
Skeptiko interview with Alex Tsakiris
Review by Molleen Matsumura, aka "Sweet Reason"
Recommendations by Taner Edis and John Derbyshire
Review at Library Thing

Naturalism: The Next Step for Humanists? - online video presentation about naturalism for the Freethought Association of Western Michigan; works as a spoken introduction to the philosophy and its implications.

Applied Naturalism Group - a forum to explore the personal and social applications of naturalism; membership by application.

Naturalism Philosophy Forum - to facilitate the investigation of scientific naturalism, its assumptions, structure, and logical implications; open membership.

Naturalism as a World View - Richard Carrier's page devoted to explaining and defending naturalism.

Religious Naturalism - an online group explores the spiritual implications of naturalism, see Religious Naturalism and its associated Yahoo group.

Psychological Self-Help - an excellent resource, see in particular two chapters on determinism applied to issues of self-acceptance and self-control.

Cause and Effect World - a smart and skeptical take on this crazy thing called life with host Samantha Clemens; her radio shows, including one on naturalism, are linked here.

Garden of Forking Paths - a free will/moral agency blog with knowledgeable contributors on the leading edge of current academic debates.

[back to contents]

_______________________________________________________

Feedback. Your suggestions about the form and content of this newsletter are most welcome. Want to contribute? Complain? Correct? Unsubscribe? Don't be shy - write today.

Support. The Center for Naturalism is on the front lines of progressive cultural change, promoting a thorough-going naturalism as a viable alternative to dualist worldviews. Please consider making a donation to support our work. We are a 501c3 non-profit, so your contributions are tax-deductible. And visit our online store for a practical gift that supports the propagation of naturalism.

Subscribe to the low impact newsletter and CFN events notification - newsletter appears approximately every two months, events announced at occasional intervals not to exceed twice a month.

[back to contents]

_______________