Across families
Deism and Philosophical Naturalism
Different families with 12 axes in close agreement — the sort of pairing a quiz weighting only the divine axes would never surface. Mean distance across all seventeen axes: 0.20 (0 would be identical).
A creator established by reason from the evidence of order, who does not intervene, answer prayer or reveal anything. The matrix minimum on immanence — this is the one tradition here whose God is genuinely absent from the world.
The claim that the natural world is all there is, argued as a position rather than assumed as a mood. Less interested than humanism in supplying a replacement ethics, and correspondingly less pluralist about what counts as true.
Where they agree
B3 Institutional authority
Both sit at individual conscience decides — a gap of 0.00.
E3 Locus of belonging
Both sit at an individual choice — a gap of 0.02.
B2 Reading of sacred text
Both sit at metaphorical, or no text at all — a gap of 0.03.
D2 Centrality of ritual
Both sit at optional or absent — a gap of 0.03.
A4 Locus
Both sit at wholly beyond the world — a gap of 0.03.
B1 Source of truth
Both sit at reason and direct experience — a gap of 0.03.
E4 Standing of nature
Both sit at between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred — a gap of 0.03.
C3 The human condition
Both sit at leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound — a gap of 0.04.
A3 Plurality
Both sit at strictly one — a gap of 0.04.
D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good
Both sit at achieved by effort or insight — a gap of 0.04.
D3 The body
Both sit at between to be disciplined and to be celebrated and leaning to be celebrated respectively — a gap of 0.06.
C2 Shape of time
Both sit at one life, then judgment — a gap of 0.07.
Where they part company
A1 Divine reality
Deism: a divine reality certainly exists. Philosophical Naturalism: nothing beyond the natural. A gap of 0.94 on an axis running from “nothing beyond the natural” to “a divine reality certainly exists”.
E2 Origin of the cosmos
Deism: an intentional act. Philosophical Naturalism: beginningless or natural. A gap of 0.93 on an axis running from “an intentional act” to “beginningless or natural”.
C1 Survival of the self
Deism: between ends at death and continues in some form. Philosophical Naturalism: ends at death. A gap of 0.53 on an axis running from “ends at death” to “continues in some form”.
All seventeen axes
| Axis | Deism | Philosophical Naturalism | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Divine reality | a divine reality certainly exists | nothing beyond the natural | 0.94 |
| A2 Personhood | leaning impersonal principle or order | impersonal principle or order | 0.34 |
| A3 Plurality | strictly one | strictly one | 0.04 |
| A4 Locus | wholly beyond the world | wholly beyond the world | 0.03 |
| B1 Source of truth | reason and direct experience | reason and direct experience | 0.03 |
| B2 Reading of sacred text | metaphorical, or no text at all | metaphorical, or no text at all | 0.03 |
| B3 Institutional authority | individual conscience decides | individual conscience decides | 0.00 |
| C1 Survival of the self | between ends at death and continues in some form | ends at death | 0.53 |
| C2 Shape of time | one life, then judgment | one life, then judgment | 0.07 |
| C3 The human condition | leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound | leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound | 0.04 |
| D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good | achieved by effort or insight | achieved by effort or insight | 0.04 |
| D2 Centrality of ritual | optional or absent | optional or absent | 0.03 |
| D3 The body | between to be disciplined and to be celebrated | leaning to be celebrated | 0.06 |
| E1 Exclusivity | leaning many valid paths | between one true path and many valid paths | 0.23 |
| E2 Origin of the cosmos | an intentional act | beginningless or natural | 0.93 |
| E3 Locus of belonging | an individual choice | an individual choice | 0.02 |
| E4 Standing of nature | between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred | between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred | 0.03 |
Positions for Deism rest principally on Paine, The Age of Reason (1794); Herbert of Cherbury’s common notions; for Philosophical Naturalism, on Contemporary philosophical naturalism (Dennett, Sellars, Papineau). Per-cell sources are listed on each tradition’s own page.
The questionnaire places your answers on these same axes and ranks all 65 traditions by how closely they match. Take it.