World Without Design ' The Ontological Consequences Of Naturalism '

The book World Without Design by Michael Rea argues that naturalism, the dominant philosophical view in the Western academy, is without rational foundation and has significant costs. The first part of the book provides a fair and historically informed characterization of naturalism and then argues that naturalists are committed to rejecting realism about material objects, materialism, and perhaps realism about other minds. This conclusion is striking, largely because naturalism is often simply identified with materialism, and the remaining two theses are ones that naturalists very typically want to endorse. Rea goes on to examine two alternative research programmes: intuitionism and supernaturalism, and argues for the conclusion that intuitionism, under certain circumstances, is self-defeating. The book offers a provocative challenge to philosophical orthodoxy and may well make uncomfortable reading for many philosophers.

Philosophical naturalism, according to which philosophy is continuous with the natural sciences, has dominated the Western academy for well over a century; but Michael Rea claims that it is without rational foundation, and that the costs of embracing it are surprisingly high The first part of this book provides a fair and historically informed characterization of naturalism. The author then argues a surprising conclusion - that naturalists are committed to rejecting realism about material objects, materialism, and perhaps realism about other minds. This conclusion is striking, largely because naturalism is often simply identified with materialism, and the remaining two theses are ones that naturalists very typically want to endorse Rea goes on to examine two alternative research programmes: intuitionism and supernaturalism, and argues for the conclusion that intuitionism, under certain circumstances, is self-defeating. The book offers a provocative challenge to philosophical orthodoxy. It may well make uncomfortable reading for many philosophers. Review: ... wide-ranging ... however we react to Rea's arguments, they do us the service of forcing us to reflect anew on the epistemology of metaphysics. Australasian Journal of Philosophy The first part of Rea's book is an informed and useful history of naturalism as a philosophical movement ... full of interesting points. Times Literary Supplement ... succinct and penetrating ... Thoroughly researched and richly argued, World Without Design will prove valuable to anyone interested in the naturalistic tradition. Troy Cross, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews Rea's is a dense and closely argued book, illustrating the convergence of philosophy of religion and sophisticated metaphysics and representativeof the best of Christian philosophy today. Philosophia Christi