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Trying to make sense of things by looking at causes and understanding their effects. Using science to discern what's real and relationships to determine what's of value. Curious about everything. www.samanthaclemens.comWhat is real and how do we know it?
The Samantha Clemens Show on WMFO 91.5 FM
How do we know what is real? How can we tell the difference between what is real and not real? How are things we determine are real related to each other? Where do supernatural beliefs fit into all of this? And, where do values come from?
Naturalism is a world view that says we human beings are fully included in the natural world, that science is the best tool for determing what is real, and that our values come from our desires and preferences.
There is a new book out that is a guide to this world view called “Encountering Naturalism.”
The book is summarized on Amazon.com as follows:
“Most of us have a worldview, an overarching context for life that helps to shape our beliefs, goals and actions. This book explores the science-based worldview known as naturalism, a comprehensive and fulfilling alternative to faith-based religion and other varieties of dualism. Taking empirical science as the route to reliable knowledge, naturalism holds that we inhabit a single, natural world; there is no separate supernatural realm. We are fully physical beings whose origins lie in cosmic and biological evolution, thus we are entirely at home in the universe. By understanding and accepting our complete connection to the natural world, naturalism provides a secure foundation for human flourishing, an effective basis for achieving our purposes and addressing our deepest concerns. We don’t need belief in the supernatural to sustain us. Nature, it turns out, is enough.”
The author is Tom Clark, founder and director of the Center for Naturalism and creator of Naturalism.Org, among the most comprehensive online resources on scientific naturalism and its implications. He lectures and writes on science, naturalism, ethics, free will, criminal justice, consciousness, addiction, and related philosophical and social concerns.
To listen to the show, click below (left-click to listen or right-click to download):
Tom Clark is also a song-writer; click here to listen to his tune we played on the show called Be My Rabbit.
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August 4th, 2007 at 10:30 am
[…] Drobny was in Boston to talk with folks about buying radio stations to make sure that progressive values were part of the debate as our country tackles our problems and moves forward. Being both a liberal and a radio girl, I was interested in what he had to say. I had promised to bring a volunteer, and since the event was sold out, I asked Tom Clark (a recent guest on my radio show) if he wanted to volunteer in order to attend. He asked who was going to be there, and when I mentioned the Drobnys he was very enthusiastic because of a piece Drobny had recently written on the Huffington Post called Guns Don’t Kill People, People Kill People: The Human Brain. […]