Introduction
The Naturalism Research Project is a major new effort to develop the theoretical and practical applications of philosophical naturalism. CFI’s libraries, research facilities, and conference areas will be available to scientists and scholars to advance the understanding of science’s methodologies and conclusions about naturalism. Philosophical naturalism is a worldview based on reason and science, without appeal to religious mythology or mysticism, which can be intelligently applied to improve the human condition. The need for defending philosophical naturalism has never been greater, as the dogmatic forces of supernaturalism and superstition continue to exert excessive control over humanity. The Center for Inquiry is among the leaders of the crucial intellectual battle against these forces of ignorance and irrationality.
Activities of the Naturalism Research Project will include lectures and seminars by visiting fellows and scholars; academic conferences; and support CFI publications of important research. Among the central issues of naturalism include the exploration of varieties of naturalism; problems in philosophy of science; the methodologies of scientific inquiry; naturalism and humanism; naturalistic ethics; planetary ethics; and naturalism and the biosciences.
October 22-24, 2009: John Dewey's 150th Birthday Celebration: An International Conference on Dewey's Impact on America and the World
Invited Speakers include Hilary Putnam (Harvard) and Ruth Anna Putnam (Wellesley); Nadine Strossen, President of the American Civil Liberties Union; Philip Kitcher, John Dewey Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University; Larry Hickman, Director of the Center for Dewey Studies; Ronald Giere, University at Minnesota
The Naturalism Research Project is directed by John Shook, Vice President for Research, and formerly a professor of philosophy at Oklahoma State University. Prominent scholars who have joined the Naturalism Research Project’s Advisory Committee include:
John Peter Anton, University of South Florida
Mario Bunge, McGill University
Arthur Caplan, Univ. of Pennsylvania
David Chalmers, Australian National University
Daniel Dennett, Tufts University
Paul Draper, Purdue University
Owen Flanagan, Duke University
Ronald Giere, University of Minnesota
Marc Hauser, Harvard University
Paul Humphreys, University of Virginia
Philip Kitcher, Columbia University
Lawrence Krauss, Arizona State University
Paul Kurtz, Center for Inquiry
Valerií Kuvakin, Moscow State University
John Lachs, Vanderbilt University
Joseph Margolis, Temple University
Manuel Paz y Miño, CIPSI-Peru
Steven Pinker, Harvard University
Huw Price, University of Sydney
Hilary Putnam, Harvard University
Alex Rosenberg, Duke University
John Searle, Univ. of California, Berkeley
Victor Stenger, University of Colorado
Stephen Weinberg, University of Texas
David Sloan Wilson, Binghamton University
E. O. Wilson, Harvard University
