Alvin Plantinga, Naturalizm metodologiczny?

The philosophical doctrine of methodological naturalism holds that, for any study of the world to qualify as “scientific”, it cannot refer to God’s creative activity (or any sort of divine activity). The methods of science, it is claimed, “give us no purchase” on theological propositions — even if the latter are true — and theology therefore cannot influence scientific explanation or theory justification. Thus, science is said to be religiously neutral, if only because science and religion are, by their very natures, epistemically distinct. However, the actual practice and content of science challenge this claim. In many areas, science is anything but religiously neutral; moreover, the standard arguments for methodological naturalism suffer from various grave shortcomings. The philosophical doctrine of methodological naturalism is flawed. Furthermore, neither claims about the definition or essential nature of science, nor theological presuppositions (e.g., “functional integrity”), can properly support methodological naturalism. However, one may find stronger support for the doctrine in what might be called “Duhemian science” — i.e., those empirical inquiries pursued by all parties on common ground, independently of whatever metaphysical assumptions may be held by only some investigators. Duhemian science is thus “maximally inclusive”. “Augustinian science”, on the other hand, may employ particular theological or philosophical assumptions. The ideal of Duhemian science should not exclude Augustinian science: both are valid forms of inquiry.