The Divine Order, the Human Order, and the Order of Nature

This volume contains ten new essays focused on the exploration and articulation of a narrative that considers the notion of order within medieval and modern philosophy-its various kinds (natural, moral, divine, and human), the different ways in which each is conceived, and the diverse dependency relations that are thought to obtain among them. Descartes, with the help of others, brought about an important shift in what was understood by the order of nature by placing laws of nature at the foundation of his natural philosophy. Vigorous debate then ensued about the proper formulation of the laws of nature and the moral law, about whether such laws can be justified, and if so, how-through some aspect of the divine order or through human beings-and about what consequences these laws have for human beings and the moral and divine orders. That is, philosophers of the period were thinking through what the order of nature consists in and how to understand its relations to the divine, human, and moral orders. No two major philosophers in the modern period took exactly the same stance on these issues, but these issues are clearly central to their thought. The Divine Order, the Human Order, and the Order of Nature is devoted to investigating their positions from a vantage point that has the potential to combine metaphysical, epistemological, scientific, and moral considerations into a single narrative.CONTRIBUTORS ; NOTE ON TEXTS, TRANSLATIONS, AND ABBREVIATIONS ; INTRODUCTION ; PART 1: THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD ; CHAPTER 1: POWERS VERSUS LAWS: GOD AND THE ORDER OF THE WORLD ACCORDING TO SOME LATE MEDIEVAL ARISTOTELIANS ; MARILYN MCCORD ADAMS ; CHAPTER 2: THE ORDER OF NATURE AND MORAL LUCK: MAIMONIDES ON DIVINE PROVIDENCE ; STEVEN NADLER ; PART 2: THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD ; CHAPTER 3: GOD, LAWS, AND THE ORDER OF NATURE: DESCARTES AND LEIBNIZ, HOBBES AND SPINOZA ; DANIEL GARBER ; CHAPTER 4: MALEBRANCHE'S CAUSAL CONCEPTS ; ROBERT MERRIHEW ADAMS ; CHAPTER 5: LAWS AND ORDER: MALEBRANCHE, BERKELEY, HUME ; TAD SCHMALTZ ; CHAPTER 6: LAWS OF NATURE IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND: FROM CAMBRIDGE PLATONISM TO NEWTONIANISM ; PETER HARRISON ; CHAPTER 7: LAWS AND POWERS IN LEIBNIZ ; DONALD RUTHERFORD ; CHAPTER 8: CHANGE IN THE MONAD ; MARTHA BRANDT BOLTON ; PART 3: KANT ; CHAPTER 9: RATIONAL HOPE, MORAL ORDER, AND THE REVOLUTION OF THE WILL ; ANDREW CHIGNELL ; CHAPTER 10: KANT ON THE NATURAL, MORAL, HUMAN, AND DIVINE ORDER ; ERIC WATKINS ; INDEX