Abstract

Psychological Inquiry, 22: 128–136, 2011 Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 1047-840X print / 1532-7965 online DOI: 10.1080/1047840X.2011.552055 Philosophical Naturalism and Scientific Method Brian D. Haig Department of Psychology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand . . . it is within science itself, and not in some prior phi- In this commentary, I focus on matters that arise losophy, that reality is to be identified and described. from the authors’ pursuit of their first goal—the nat- — Quine (1981) uralization of philosophy of mind—by considering a number of ways in which philosophy and scientific Contemporary philosophy of mind is an important psychology might be brought together to their mutual source of psychological insight that is frequently ig- advantage. My focus for the most part is on methods nored by psychologists in their research deliberations. of inquiry. I begin with a big picture consideration Conversely, scientific theories and methods are re- by briefly discussing the philosophies of empiricism sources that many philosophers of mind deem irrel- and scientific realism and their attitudes to natural- evant to their philosophical work. However, there is a ized philosophy. I then comment on Jagewon Kim and well-established outlook in contemporary philosophy David Lewis’s