Abstract
The NTSE Conference at the University of Texas (February 20-23, 1997) brought together 120 scientists, scholars, and students from North America and Europe to discuss the relationship between methodological naturalism, theistic hypotheses and explanations, and the practice of science. The keynote speakers included Phillip Johnson (University of California-Berkeley), Alvin Plantinga (University of Notre Dame), Michael Ruse (University of Guelph), and Frederick Grinnell (Utah Southwestern Medical Center). Thirty-nine papers were read by specialists in the philosophy of science, history, geology, biology, physics, computer science, rhetoric, theology, and the social sciences. The discussions and questions took place at a very high level and were characterized throughout by friendliness and mutual respect. Real progress was made, with all sides enriched by the encounter, and a convergence of views developed on some centrally important issues. For example, you would find almost universal agreement among philosophers that Cartesian foundationalism and logical positivism are failed projects, and you would find substantial agreement on how and why they failed. Similarly, the philosophers, scientists, and scholars who attended made substantial progress together on the very important question: Is methodological naturalism an essential part of science?