Naturalism and Political Philosophy

In: The review of politics, Volume 34, Issue 2, p. 210-222

Abstract

To invoke the word "naturalism" is reminiscent of American philosophy of a past generation that under the interdict of Neo-Hegelianism sought a reconstitution of metaphysical attitudes, expressed in terms of Pragmatism and Critical Realism. But these naturalistic philosophies have, in a sense, come and gone, the philosophical mainstream being subsequently dominated by varieties of Positivism and continental European philosophies stemming from Existentialism and Phenomenology. It is curious, in a way, that, with one notable exception, most of these more contemporary philosophical movements presume some type of naturalistic base, at least to the extent that they reject the issues of conventional metaphysics and elect to deal, in various ways, with what they construe to be present actualities. The "notable exception" is clearly Logical Positivism that makes a radical separation between the scientific and philosophical enterprise.