Naturalism And What This Worldview Teaches About The Value Of Life

When natural comes to mind, what do people think about? What is natural in the grocery stores? What behaviors do we do naturally? Does natural mean a good or bad? In “Why Doesn’t Natural Mean Anything Anymore” by Michael Pollan, he analyzes the word “natural”.

Humanity often tends to see itself as being somehow important in the grand scheme of the Universe. We speak of 'fate' as if we were put here for some reason, or purpose. We have our religions, which often serve as an engine to drive our lives and as a means to give meaning to them. But why do we think of ourselves in such a superior fashion? Do we really matter at all? Would the Universe stop if we were suddenly taken away? In his short story, 'The Open Boat,' Stephen Crane shows us a Universe totally unconcerned with the affairs of humankind; it is an indifferent Universe in which Man has to struggle to survive. The characters in the story come face to face with this indifference and are nearly overcome

John Steinbeck 's novel Of Mice and Men is a famous Naturalist work in American literature. Various elements of Naturalism is exhibited in this novel through its character types and story plot. Charles Darwin, an English Naturalist proposed a theory called natural selection, meaning that nature selects the best adapted varieties to survive and reproduce. Darwin also identified this theory as survival of the fittest. Steinbeck incorporated this belief of natural selection in many instances throughout Of Mice and Men using characters and their circumstances. One character named Candy has an injury and is old in age. They were leading factors in his fear of being unemployed. His dog’s old age and uselessness also resulted in its death.

I believe the existences of the human nature is to exist, fulfil the purpose of the ultimate reality, which is God by multiplying the universe for the time being and maintaining all these purposes with the knowledge available to determine what is right or wrong. The knowledge acquired will help to determine the conviction of the use of ethics on what they believe on because, it is through the ethics in determining their faith, that will result in what the afterlife will look like at the end, when they have completed their purposes of the existence to the universe as the will of God which was the purpose of their existence on the universe. When one realizes his purpose in the universe, through the knowledge of God and understanding of the universe, it becomes possible and easy for the individual to fulfil his purpose of worship and obeying the ultimate reality as the purpose in life towards the fulfilment of the ultimate reality

“One touch of nature makes the whole world kin”-William Shakespeare. The relationship between humans and nature is that we are a part of nature. As per the study of human evolution, scientists discovered a wealth of evidence that shows how closely we are related to the other primates. We humans are an animal species: primate order: mammalian class: vertebrate sub-phylum. The study of Human genetics gave a proof that we are connected to each other and also to other organisms which are part of nature. The Earth is a natural thing, with all earthly inhabitants originated on earth naturally, that means we as humans are natural.

History and literature have developed in a parallel manner, as organisms often co-evolve with each other. With the publication of Darwin’s groundbreaking work, the Origin of Species, a new group of people, the Social Darwinists, applied the theory of natural selection to social hierarchy. A most notable Social Darwinist, Herbert Spencer, coined the term “survival of the fittest”, implying that people in higher social groups were more “fit” to survive than those who were in lower social groups (Bannister, “Social Darwinism”). This idea of social evolution contributed to the dehumanization of people. More social theorists, scientists, and

The questions, “What does it mean to be human, and how might we transcend human nature?” have been a subject of debate for philosophical and theological thinkers for centuries. In recent history, scientific discoveries have led to a resurgence of these ancient debates that break down into three primary schools of thought. There are those who believe that we, like the rest of the animal kingdom, have certain basic “programming” that determines our fundamental nature, and those who believe that human beings are born “tabula rasa” and that nurture determines who we are. The issue becomes increasingly complex for those with the theological belief that human beings are spiritual creatures and that our spirituality is what defines us. However, a

The purpose of man is to praise and worship God, proclaim his glory, and to accomplish his will."… And whom I have created for My glory, …” (Isaiah 43:7 New International Version). God created all things in harmony. He established a perfect creation that he loves and over which he rules. The highest honor is given to mankind as the only part of creation made in God’s image. Humanity was created to love as God loves, to worship and praise his glory and commune with him as he does with us.

At the very core of naturalist beliefs however, matter is all that there was, is, and ever will be. The implications of this take on reality is that humans are merely complex machines, a result of evolution. How then, can one be sure that what one thinks to be logic and reason is really significant at all? Ironically, naturalism began as an Age of Enlightenment based on the affirmation of human intelligence, but a truly consistent naturalist leads to what is called a nihilist. Nihilists realize that they can place no confidence in knowing anything at all. In an attempt to escape the hopeless vacuum of nihilism, existentialism emerged, accepting all the propositions of naturalism except those regarding human nature and humans’

But, as philosopher Tom Nagel has argued, this is not the sense of “the meaning of life” people are usually interested in. Suppose an alien species created human life in order to provide them with a future food supply. Then the purpose of human life is to be food for aliens. That would be the meaning of life, if we take

Popularizing the claim that naturalism and evolution are mutual self-defeaters, Alvin Plantinga argues, in Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism (1993), that given unguided evolution, our beliefs have no intrinsic relation to the truth.

another flaw in the belief of naturalism is that there is no real thought or soul. Because of this there would be no need for ethics or morals because if we have no control over our own thought because they are not real than we cant be responsible for our own actions. If this is true than we should not be sending criminals to prisons because they did not truly commit the crimes themselves.

This was revisited in the second book with the rats, it was a concept that was originally very hard for me to grasp. Imagine if the entirety of the human conscience could be compared to the intelligence of, say an ant... No, a more accurate example would be a mosquito. Mosquitos have no real purpose, no true function on this planet and yet, they continue to live. A fact which we as “holier than thou”humans often despise, yet are we not the same? Humans have no preordained purpose despite those we choose to construct, in fact from any outside perspective, not only is there no reason for our existence, but there are far too many negative repercussions our enduring has caused to counteract this hypothetical reason for life. So, what? What if the only reason for our existence is we got lucky on a lump of dirt 150 million kms from the sun? What if there is no reason for life, and if so why do we continue to live? Throughout the book these questions are continuously uprooted and are never truly answered. But I believe that is the point. We automatically sympathise with our young protagonists, however we still cannot truly support their plight. For if we cannot answer those questions, how can we say that The Others conquest of earth is not just and why do we continue to hope for the eventual triumph of the humans? The Others, aware of this situation, often mock the humans on

Beginning in the late 19th century, two separate movements spread across America know as realism and naturalism. While the two were very similar in their beliefs and ideals there were still many apparent distinctions to differentiate the two. Realism and naturalism showed themselves in many aspects of life, from art and sciences to new math techniques and even religion. However, above all else these movements may have been most evident in the literature of this time. Reading through American literature of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it becomes perceptible which short stories portray realism and which represent nationalism.

Naturalism is a scientific aspect to examine the meaning of life. All life has started with the Big Bang 15 billion years ago. This position suggests that the meaning of life can be found by the origin of life. However, as scientific fact shows that there is no time and space before the Big Bang, life is determined as meaningless.