The Religious Naturalism of Rabindranath Tagore

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to argue that Tagorean religious naturalism is the most
appropriately formulated doctrine of spiritual naturalism. There are two prongs
of attack against religious naturalism. Firstly, religious naturalists adhere to scientism
— the view that scientific principles are the authoritative and regulative
principles of all disciplines. Secondly, reductive religious naturalism consequently
leads to anthropocentrism. The paper will argue that Tagorean religious
naturalism does not commit to scientism and anthropocentrism. In addition, it
harmonizes spirituality, nature. and humanism. The divinity can be manifested
in the natural world and in human creativity. The scientific way of explaining
reality is just one way of approaching reality. Terms such as God, self, morality
and values have an epistemic significance in the naturalistic explanation of
reality.