Defining "Natural" and Its Implications

To assess the claim that "everything is natural," we must first clarify what "natural" means. While we are told that nature encompasses all existence, the term lacks a precise definition. Attempts to define it often lead to the conclusion that naturalism is either fundamentally flawed or trivial.

Philosopher Carl Hempel famously articulated this issue, now referred to as Hempel's dilemma. People tend to endorse naturalism due to the successes of natural sciences, which leads to a broad interpretation of "natural" as the phenomena examined by these sciences. However, this raises a significant hurdle for naturalists: they must reduce all occurrences to physical laws.

If one defines "natural" based on current physics, then naturalism is inherently flawed, as contemporary physics is not exhaustive, leaving mental phenomena outside its scope. Conversely, if one relies on unspecified future laws of physics, naturalism becomes vacuous, as it is impossible to predict what those laws might entail.

Consequently, when naturalists assert that everything is natural, they themselves cannot clarify what this means.

The Incoherence of Naturalism as a Definitive Belief

The confusion surrounding naturalism would be less concerning if it were presented as a tentative belief or a modest hypothesis. Instead, it is often stated with such certainty that dissenters are labeled as irrational or scientifically ignorant.

It becomes problematic when a comprehensive claim about reality is made without even defining its core concept. This incoherence is rooted in the fact that naturalism does not derive from empirical observations leading to a logical metaphysical framework; rather, it begins with a method of investigation and attempts to force reality into that framework.

The Challenge of Explaining Existence

Naturalism faces a critical challenge when it comes to explaining the existence of the universe. Many believe that scientific inquiry will ultimately address this question, yet science is inherently limited to exploring phenomena that already exist. It can describe how various elements interact over time but cannot explain the fundamental reason for their existence or even why anything exists at all.

This limitation extends to naturalism as a philosophy, which cannot venture beyond nature to elucidate its origins. Admitting a need for explanations outside of nature would undermine the very foundation of naturalism. Thus, the most naturalistic response is to assert that the universe exists without reason—an assertion that is both improbable and contradictory.

The Orderliness of Nature and Its Laws

Naturalism also struggles to elucidate why the universe operates under consistent and orderly laws. The only explanation it can offer is chance, which, in essence, is a euphemism for the unknown and unanswerable.

In both cases—why nature exists and why it possesses its specific properties—naturalism resorts to vague terms (like "brute fact" and "chance") to obscure its inability to provide satisfactory answers within its own constraints.

Consciousness and Personal Experience

One of the most significant shortcomings of naturalism is its failure to account for consciousness and personal experiences. The "hard problem" of consciousness poses a nearly insurmountable challenge for naturalism, as it cannot reduce mental properties, such as consciousness, intention, or values, to mere physical elements.

To fit these immaterial aspects into a naturalist perspective, they are often dismissed as illusions or mere appearances, which necessitates a denial of our fundamental experiences. This leads naturalists to reject concepts like free will and morality, reducing them to mere societal constructs.

Ultimately, naturalism must repudiate our inherent experiences to conform to its framework. A robust explanation, however, should align with the observed nature of reality. The misconception that naturalism is a viable explanation arises from conflating scientific findings with a broader philosophical doctrine that extends beyond empirical data.

This introductory video, "The Naturalist Role For BEGINNERS In Red Dead Online," offers insights into how naturalism is represented in popular culture and its implications for understanding reality.