Abstract
My aim in this paper will be to explore which deeper and more general epistemic stances underlie methodological naturalism. In particular, I aim to consider whether the same epistemic stance that underlies scientific realism must also underlie methodological naturalism. Since it is often assumed that realism is a prerequisite of methodological naturalism, one might think that they share an underlying stance in common. However, I will argue that this is not clearly the case. I will also consider whether methodological naturalism must stem from a distinctively scientistic stance. I will argue that this, too, is not clearly the case.
