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

Overview & Synopsis

This volume focuses on the exploration and articulation of a narrative that considers the notion of order within 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 (1) about the proper formulation of the laws of nature and the moral law, (2) about whether such laws can be justified, and if so, how—through some aspect of the divine order (e.g., through God's fundamental nature as a perfect being or through a divine decree) or through human beings (e.g., by prescribing lawsthrough some kind of social contract or by constructing the moral law in some kind of autonomous act)—and (3) 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. This volume contains ten chapters that are devoted toinvestigating their positions from this vantage point, which promises to reveal a fresh perspective on modern thought that has the potential to combine metaphysical, epistemological, scientific, and moral considerations into a single narrative.