In 1993 David Papineau publishes Philosophical Naturalism, the position's systematic defense: reality is the reality science describes, philosophy proceeds by science's methods, and the apparent gaps, mind and meaning among them, are research programs, not refutations. The book gives the contemporary program its name and its textbook at once.
Tagged: Naturalism
The Event
- Date
- 1993 (exact)
- Era
- The Contemporary Program; Standard periodization of naturalist history
- Location
- Oxford; today Oxford, England
- Traditions
- Naturalism
- Streams
- Naturalism
- Key figures
- David Papineau
- Key texts
- Philosophical Naturalism
Primary Sources
- Papineau, David. Philosophical Naturalism. Oxford: Blackwell, 1993.
Secondary Sources
- De Caro, Mario, and David Macarthur, eds. Naturalism in Question. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004.
- Gregory, Frederick. Scientific Materialism in Nineteenth Century Germany. Dordrecht: Reidel, 1977.
- Papineau, David. Philosophical Naturalism. Oxford: Blackwell, 1993.
Provenance: HIST-1417; confidence 0.95; accessed 2026-10-30.
Related on This Site
History Event
Büchner's Force and Matter
1855
History Event
D'Holbach's System of Nature
1770
History Event
Huxley's Man's Place in Nature
1863
History Event
La Mettrie's Man a Machine
1747
History Event
Laplace's Exposition of the System of the World
1796
History Event
Mill's A System of Logic
1843
History Event
Newton's Principia Mathematica
1687
World View
Naturalism
Naturalism holds that nature is all there is: the universe of matter, energy, and natural law needs no god, soul, or purpose beyond itself.