Naturalism (philosophy)

In philosophy, naturalism is the idea that only natural laws and forces operate in the universe. In its primary sense, it is also known as ontological naturalism, metaphysical naturalism, pure naturalism, philosophical naturalism and antisupernaturalism.

"Ontological" refers to ontology, the philosophical study of what exists. Philosophers often treat naturalism as equivalent to physicalism or materialism, but there are important distinctions between the philosophies.