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and therefore the contrary worldview beliefs of sciences are? The challenge facing all scientists
others to be false (even relativists cannot think is that all scientific activity is conducted within
otherwise). The great success of natural science and guided by a “worldview,” a set of founda-
methods and the belief that they lead necessa- tional assumptions regarding reality (Naugle,
rily to the greatest possible objectivity that hu- 2002). Many terms have been used for this im-
mans can attain have convinced most adherents portant meta-concept. 2
of naturalism that their worldview assumptions The challenge here for the development of a
are beyond question. human science for all of humanity is that one’s
In addition to the worldview of naturalism, mo- basic assumptions cannot be proven to be true,
dern psychology also accepted some version of either logically or empirically, to the satisfac-
positivism as its epistemology, which restricted tion of others who do not already subscribe to
science to what it could be “positively” or ob- them, they are rarely carefully explicated, and
jectively identified: empirical descriptions, logi- they guide one’s thinking and living implici-
cal and mathematical relations, and theoretical tly. As a result, most adherents take for gran-
statements about human beings, all of which ted their own worldview beliefs, which seem
were “publicly verifiable,” that is, procedures to to them self-evidently true, and they have a
which all interested parties could supposedly difficult time understanding how adherents of
subscribe. Together these minimalist epistemo- other worldviews cannot affirm the same as-
logical assumptions have undergirded psycho- sumptions. This lack of understanding is espe-
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logical discourse in the West for the past 150 cially marked for those who are in the majority,
years. 1 a position the adherents of naturalism currently
As evidence of the foregoing, since 1950 the enjoy, at least among the West’s intellectual elite.
West’s major universities, psychological orga- According to Augustine’s Two-Cities Frame-
nizations, and psychology publishing organs work (sometimes called the doctrine of the
have universally accepted rules of discourse and “Antithesis”), such worldview differences are
practice for the human sciences—pure and ap- to be expected. Near the collapse of the Roman
plied—that are consistent with naturalism and Empire, Augustine defended the validity of
some degree of positivism. As a result, strong Christianity in the face of criticisms that it was
ontological claims about the nature of human responsible for Rome’s destruction by arguing
beings (like they have conditioned freedom), that the human race is composed fundamental-
the influence of supernatural beings or proces- ly of two communities: the City of Humanity,
ses on human beings, and the affirmation of ab- into which all humans are born, and the City
solute ethical values are generally not allowed of God, into which one has to be born again by
in the psychological discourse found in the best faith in Christ (Jn 3:3). The City of Humanity,
journals and books that represent what we to- Augustine wrote (1958), is composed of those
day call psychology. This version of psychology who fundamentally love self and despise God,
is commonly called “modern.” whereas the City of God is composed of those
By any reckoning, the contributions of modern who fundamentally love God and despise self,
psychology have been enormous, leading to the having been regenerated by God’s grace (Tit
development of extremely rich, scientific bodies
of literature that well describe human beings as
purely natural entities and that promote their 2 For example, Foucault (1972) refers to an “episteme,”
psychological improvement using purely natu- Watson (1993) an “ideological surround,” and J.K. A.
ral means. But how can human beings know ab- Smith (2009) a liturgy.
solutely what the valid parameters of the human 3 It is a curious fact of human life that a necessary circu-
larity attends some of our most cherished and important
beliefs, including beliefs in the general validity of one’s
perceptions, clear and simple memories, and reasoning,
1 Consider, for example, the implications of first subhea- the testimony of others, the existence of other persons,
ding of chapter seven of William James’ (1890) classic indeed the existence of whatever one is presently expe-
exposition of the “new psychology”: “Psychology is a Na- riencing (Audi, 1998; Plantinga, 1993), a problem nicely
tural Science” (Vol I, p. 183). illustrated in the movie The Matrix.
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