The Divine Lawmaker: Lectures on Induction, Laws of Nature, and the Existence of God
Oxford University Press (2004)
| Abstract | John Foster presents a clear and powerful discussion of a range of topics relating to our understanding of the universe: induction, laws of nature, and the existence of God. He begins by developing a solution to the problem of induction - a solution whose key idea is that the regularities in the workings of nature that have held in our experience hitherto are to be explained by appeal to the controlling influence of laws, as forms of natural necessity. His second line of argument focuses on the issue of what we should take such necessitational laws to be, and whether we can even make sense of them at all. Having considered and rejected various alternatives, Foster puts forward his own proposal: the obtaining of a law consists in the causal imposing of a regularity on the universe as a regularity. With this causal account of laws in place, he is now equipped to offer an argument for theism. His claim is that natural regularities call for explanation, and that, whatever explanatory role we may initially assign to laws, the only plausible ultimate explanation is in terms of the agency of God. Finally, he argues that, once we accept the existence of God, we need to think of him as creating the universe by a method which imposes regularities on it in the relevant law-yielding way. In this new perspective, the original nomological-explanatory solution to the problem of induction becomes a theological-explanatory solution. The Divine Lawmaker is bold and original in its approach, and rich in argument. The issues on which it focuses are among the most important in the whole epistemological and metaphysical spectrum. | |||||||||
| Keywords | Theism God Proof, Ontological Necessity (Philosophy Induction (Logic | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Buy the book | $70.47 new (18% off) $75.98 direct from Amazon (11% off) $107.56 used Amazon page | |||||||||
| Call number | BD555.F67 2004 | |||||||||
| ISBN(s) | 0199250596 9780199250592 | |||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,875 |
| External links |
  Try with proxy. |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesJohn Foster (1983). Induction, Explanation, and Natural Necessity. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 83:87-101.
Richard Swinburne (2005). Prior Probabilities in the Argument From Fine-Tuning. Faith and Philosophy 22 (5):641 - 653.
Holly Andersen (2011). Mechanisms, Laws, and Regularities. Philosophy of Science 78 (2):325-331.
Richard Swinburne (2004). The Argument From Laws of Nature Reassessed. In M. Ruse & W. Dembski (eds.), Debating Design: From Darwin to Dna. Cambridge Univ Pr.
Richard Swinburne (2004). The Existence of God. Oxford University Press.
Robin Collins (2009). God and the Laws of Nature. Philo 12 (2):142-171.
Quentin Smith (1990). A Natural Explanation of the Existence and Laws of Our Universe. Australasian Journal of Philosophy 68 (1):22 – 43.
Cal Ledsham (2010). Love, Power and Consistency: Scotus' Doctrines of God's Power, Contingent Creation, Induction and Natural Law. Sophia 49 (4):557-575.
Evan Fales (2004). Review of John Foster, The Divine Lawmaker: Lectures on Induction, Laws of Nature, and the Existence of God. [REVIEW] Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2004 (9).
John Foster (2001). Regulatities, Laws of Nature, and the Existance of God. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 101 (2):145–161.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads42 ( #27,605 of 556,837 )Recent downloads (6 months)2 ( #39,010 of 556,837 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
