Friday, August 16, 2024

Naturalism in psychology




Naturalism is a philosophical position relevant to psychology and other sciences. Naturalism posits that reality consists of people and objects in the natural world and that the relationships between or among people and objects can only be known by a strict application of scientific methods.

Naturalism contrasts with supernaturalism and mysticism, which propose there are supernatural beings and relationships beyond the natural world.

An important relationship addressed by naturalism is the assumption that causes of observable effects can be located within the natural world. There are no supernatural causes of behavior or other events.

Some Christian psychologists have objected to naturalism. A quote from Johnson and Watson (2012) is an example of an alternative view.

Since its founding, modem psychology has been based on the worldview of naturalism, and its rules of discourse conform to naturalism. However, there are other intellectually respectable worldviews that humans hold. A human science that seeks to be comprehensive in its description of human beings ought to permit other kinds of worldview discourse and require researchers to be more explicit about their own worldviews and the world-views of their research subjects. (Abstract)


References

Johnson, E. L., & Watson, P. J. (2012). Worldview communities and the science of psychology. Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, 23, 269–283.


 Naturalism is related to materialism.

Related post

Worldview




Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 

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