Between Naturalism and Religion

Two countervailing trends mark the intellectual tenor of our age- the spread of naturalistic worldviews and religiousorthodoxies. Advances in biogenetics, brain research, and roboticsare clearing the way for the penetration of an objective scientificself-understanding of persons into everyday life. For philosophy,this trend is associated with the challenge of scientificnaturalism. At the same time, we are witnessing an unexpectedrevitalization of religious traditions and the politicization ofreligious communities across the world. From a philosophicalperspective, this revival of religious energies poses the challengeof a fundamentalist critique of the principles underlying themodern Wests postmetaphysical understanding of itself. The tension between naturalism and religion is the central themeof this major new book by Jürgen Habermas. On the one hand heargues for an appropriate naturalistic understanding of culturalevolution that does justice to the normative character of the humanmind. On the other hand, he calls for an appropriate interpretationof the secularizing effects of a process of social and culturalrationalization increasingly denounced by the champions ofreligious orthodoxies as a historical development peculiar to theWest. These reflections on the enduring importance of religion andthe limits of secularism under conditions of postmetaphysicalreason set the scene for an extended treatment the politicalsignificance of religious tolerance and for a fresh contribution tocurrent debates on cosmopolitanism and a constitution forinternational society.