The Immanence of Nature and the Ideals of Inquiry

The Immanence of Nature and the Ideals of Inquiry elaborates the doctrine of philosophic naturalism. This consists of two core premises: space-time and causation alone exist, and scientific fact is privileged because only it is capable of being objective. Three challenges are immediately consequent from these premises. First, all abstractions of conception must be placed into causal relation. These include, for instance, numbers, meanings, normative idioms, and properties. Second, what...
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The Immanence of Nature and the Ideals of Inquiry elaborates the doctrine of philosophic naturalism. This consists of two core premises: space-time and causation alone exist, and scientific fact is privileged because only it is capable of being objective. Three challenges are immediately consequent from these premises. First, all abstractions of conception must be placed into causal relation. These include, for instance, numbers, meanings, normative idioms, and properties. Second, what is subjective must be reconciled to what is objective, particularly the faculties of subjectivity, viz. freedom, will, and representation. Third, all types of knowledge and belief must in some way be related to the facts known by science. It is the exploration of these three tasks to which this book is dedicated.