Naturalism and the Human Condition: Against Scientism

"Frederick Olafson offers up alternative ways of thinking about the human condition that have long been urecognized by naturalists. Avoiding the metaphysical, he presses us to take a closer look at our human sense of being in the world, and shows that in its attempt to investigate human consciousness and intelligence, naturalism can only be understood through the very conceptual models that it rejects. Tracing the history of naturalism and its opponents, and drawing on a wide range of sources, including Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Husserl and Sartre, Olafson skillfully exposes the problems inherent in naturalism and raises some vital questions. The central chapters of the book discuss the implications of this on three main areas of the philosophy of mind: perception, language and brain-function.".