How the Laws of Nature were Naturalised
When the notion of laws of nature first arose in the early modern period, it was an undisputedly theistic idea. Descartes and Newton believed there were laws because there was a divine Lawgiver. Today, the laws of nature have been thoroughly naturalized, but this shift away from a theistic understan...
| Published in: | Science & Christian belief |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Paternoster Press
2021
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| In: |
Science & Christian belief
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| Further subjects: | B
Divine Lawgiver
B laws of nature B Hume B les philosophes B Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882 B HUXLEY, Thomas Henry, 1825-1895 B X-Club B Huxley B Darwin B Newton B DESCARTES, Rene, 1596-1650 B ZOOLOGISTS B uniformitarianism B Nineteenth Century B Scientific naturalism B Naturalism B catastrophists |
| Summary: | When the notion of laws of nature first arose in the early modern period, it was an undisputedly theistic idea. Descartes and Newton believed there were laws because there was a divine Lawgiver. Today, the laws of nature have been thoroughly naturalized, but this shift away from a theistic understanding did not come about by accident. It was instead part of a larger programme to naturalise science in the nineteenth century. The most successful driver of this programme was a British group known as the X-Club, whose most prominent member was zoologist Thomas Henry Huxley. After briefly considering why the laws of nature became a foundational idea in science, we will trace how this reconceptualisation came about. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Science & Christian belief
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