Nonnaturalist

Nonnaturalist is a term used primarily in philosophy to describe a proponent of nonnaturalism in metaethics and related disciplines. A nonnaturalist holds that certain properties discussed in normative discourse—most notably moral properties such as goodness—are not natural properties and cannot be fully captured by naturalistic terms or empirical science. In this sense, nonnaturalists often maintain that normative truths are nonnatural, mind-dependent, or grounded in a reality that cannot be reduced to physical, psychological, or sociological properties.

The term is most closely associated with G. E. Moore, whose Principia Ethica (1903) argued that “good” is a simple, nonnatural property that cannot be defined or analyzed in natural terms. Moore’s open question argument claimed that any attempt to identify good with a natural property leaves an unanswered question that cannot be settled by natural analysis alone. While Moore’s position is a form of moral nonnaturalism, later debates have broadened the field to include a spectrum from robust moral realism about nonnatural properties to more deflationary or anti-realist accounts.

In contemporary metaethics, distinctions are drawn between naturalist and nonnaturalist theories, with nonnaturalists contrasting with reductive naturalists who maintain normative properties can be explained in naturalistic terms. Nonnaturalist positions may be associated with realism about normative facts, or with non-realist or expressivist views, depending on how one accounts for the status and nature of normative properties and discourse.

Common criticisms target the ontological cost of postulating nonnatural properties, the challenge of explaining how such properties interact with the natural world, and the explanatory role of moral language. Defenders respond by appealing to the conceptual features of normative discourse and the possibility that some facts lie beyond naturalistic explanation.

See also naturalism, moral realism, ethical nonnaturalism, open question argument.