Let us look at some foundational beliefs or truth claims of
Naturalism. Firstly, like most people, naturalists are realists,
believing that there is an external reality independent of our
thoughts and perceptions. So if we see a chair in a room, not
believed to be an illusion, we assume the chair will still be in
the room even after we have left. All this is uncontroversial
as, overwhelmingly, most people hold the same view. It is worth
noting that philosophers often distinguish between naive and
critical realism with the former accepting perceptions ‘as is’
and the latter seeing our perceptions as heavily interpreted.
Interestingly, the opposite position of idealism sees our
reality as a human (social) construction. Of course, this will
be a more challenging concept for most. Before scoffing at even
mentioning this alternative view, we need to recognise that
without a god-eye’s view, independent of any particular world-
view, we have no simple way of proving the truth of one view
over another. That is why phi