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## Principles and Strategies of Teaching for Med Tech There are different varieties of Metaphysical Naturalism, but they are usually separated into two general categories: * **Physicalism (or Materialism):** The belief that everything which exists is no more extensive than its physical properties...

## Principles and Strategies of Teaching for Med Tech There are different varieties of Metaphysical Naturalism, but they are usually separated into two general categories: * **Physicalism (or Materialism):** The belief that everything which exists is no more extensive than its physical properties, and that the only existing substance is physical. Thus, everything that has ever been observed is in actual fact the product of fundamentally mindless arrangements or interactions of matter-energy in space-time, and it is unreasonable to believe anything else exists. * **Pluralism:** The belief that reality consists of many different substances (including abstract objects and universals) in addition to those fundamentally mindless arrangements or interactions of matter-energy in space-time. The direct opposite of Naturalism is Supernaturalism, which accepts the existence of such things as supernatural beings, magical objects, Platonic forms or the existence of love (for example) as a cosmic force. ### History of Naturalism **Pre-Socratic Philosophers** "natural philosophers" * A. Thales * B. Anaxagoras * C. Democritus This eventually led to fully-developed systems such as Epicureanism, which sought to explain everything that exists as the product of atoms moving in a void (Atomism), or the advanced Aristotelianism of Strato of Lampsacus (c. 335 - 269 B.C.), who sought to explain everything that exists as the inevitable outcome of uncreated natural forces or tendencies. Metaphysical Naturalism is most notably a Western phenomenon, although one tradition within Confucian philosophy (dating back at least to **Wang Chong** in the 1st Century, if not earlier) embraced a view that could be called Naturalism. With the rise and dominance of Christianity and the decline of secular philosophy in the West