Divergent and Convergent Perspectives on Anthropological Naturalism in Christian and Non religious Philosophies

Abstract

While current Christian philosophy and various non-religious philosophies of today are most often seen as being at odds with each other, arguing over both theoretical matters and practical solutions, my aim is to demonstrate how a point of convergence between Christian and non-religious philosophies arises from the rejection of anthropological naturalism.

Christian doctrine by necessity involves certain forms of transcendence that cannot be reconciled with a fully naturalistic position and the rejection of naturalism remains one of the main claims of the current Christian philosophy, as described by Piotr Mazur, Vittorio Possenti, Chantal Delsol, and other Christian scholars who deal both with philosophical anthropology and matters of modern culture. Somewhat similarly, naturalism is also at least partially rejected by non-religious philosophies concerned with anthropology, including queer philosophy (Sarah Ahmed), postcolonial thought (Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak), and ecophilosophy (Joanna Hańderek). While reasons for opposing naturalism vary greatly between those two groups and so do methods of critiquing it, they seem to share discontent with naturalism, especially with regard to anthropology. This paper examines how expressions of anti-naturalistic thought both diverge and converge between Christian and non-religious thinkers.