ABSTRACT
In the first section of this paper, I define and defend a spatio-temporal account of the general nature of reality. I call this doctrine “Naturalism”. In the second section, I define and defend the somewhat more specific, although still very general, doctrine of Materialism or Physicalism. (I take it to be a sub-species of Naturalism.) However, if we define ontology or “first philosophy” as the most abstract or general theory of reality, then it seems that neither Materialism nor even Naturalism is an ontology. In the third section, I sketch very briefly the ontology I favour. Unlike that adopted by many Naturalists and Materialists, it admits both particulars and universals. It is Realistic, not Nominalistic. I maintain, in particular, that only by adopting a Realistic (but not Platonistic) account of universals can the Naturalist and the Materialist solve the pressing problems of the nature of causation and of law-like connection.
