A Critical Study of Anthropological Naturalism; Emphasizing Eliminative Physicalism

Anthropological naturalism is amongst the foundations of new atheism in which some of religious beliefs and instructions are refused. This subfield of naturalism is also underscored in the philosophy of humanities and some branches of humanities such as evolutionary psychology rely on it. Therefore, thinkers in theology and researchers in the philosophy of humanities, and interdisciplinary researchers in humanities-social sciences are required to examine it thoroughly. Eliminative physicalism is one of the new naturalist approaches which stands in sharp and fanatic contrast with religious beliefs and brings about some new challenges. Thus, the present research intended to study and criticize anthropological naturalism. In addition to that, eliminative physicalism is also analyzed and evaluated. The study has used documentary research to collect data and adopted a logical-analytical approach to interpreting them.  It was concluded that all types of anthropological naturalism, especially physicalism are rejected. Also, the study approves of substantial dualism through employing some methods in Islamic psychology and philosophy of mind and rejects the emerging challenge of eliminative physicalism.