The uniformity of natural laws in Victorian Britain: Naturalism, theism, and scientific practice
Zygon 46 (3):536-560 (2011)
| Abstract | Abstract. A historical perspective allows for a different view on the compatibility of theistic views with a crucial foundation of modern scientific practice: the uniformity of nature, which states that the laws of nature are unbroken through time and space. Uniformity is generally understood to be part of a worldview called “scientific naturalism,” in which there is no room for divine forces or a spiritual realm. This association comes from the Victorian era, but a historical examination of scientists from that period shows that uniformity was an important part of both theistic and naturalistic worldviews. Victorian efforts to maintain the viability of miracles and divine action within a universe ruled by natural laws receives special attention. The methodological practices of theistic and naturalistic scientists in the nineteenth century were effectively indistinguishable despite each group's argument that uniformity was closely dependent on their worldview. This similarity is used to reexamine both the reasons for the decline of the role of religion within the scientific community and claims made by the intelligent design movement about the relationship of science and religion | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,631 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesPiotr Bylica & Dariusz Sagan (2008). God, Design, and Naturalism: Implications of Methodological Naturalism in Science for Science–Religion Relation. Pensamiento 64:621-38.
Marc Lange (2000). Natural Laws in Scientific Practice. Oxford University Press.
Martin Carrier & J. (1990). The Unity of Science. International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 4 (1):17-31.
Christopher C. Knight (2009). Theistic Naturalism and "Special" Divine Providence. Zygon 44 (3):533-542.
Giovanni Camardi (1999). Charles Lyell and the Uniformity Principle. Biology and Philosophy 14 (4).
Alvin Plantinga (2006). Divine Action in the World (Synopsis). Ratio 19 (4):495–504.
Craig Dilworth (1994). Principles, Laws, Theories and the Metaphysics of Science. Synthese 101 (2):223 - 247.
Andrew Porter (2003). Naturalism, Naturalism by Other Means, and ÂAlternatives to Naturalism. Theology and Science 1 (2):221-237.
Ronald N. Giere (2006). Modest Evolutionary Naturalism. Biological Theory 1 (1):52-60.
Frederick Gregory (2008). Questioning Scientific Faith in the Late Nineteenth Century. Zygon 43 (3):651-664.
Marc Lange (2002). Okasha on Inductive Scepticism. Philosophical Quarterly 52 (207):226-232.
Peter Harrison (1995). Newtonian Science, Miracles, and the Laws of Nature. Journal of the History of Ideas 56 (4):531 - 553.
Xiaofei Tian & Tong Wu (2009). The Philosophy of Scientific Practice in Naturalist Thought: Its Approaches and Problems. Frontiers of Philosophy in China 4 (4):589-603.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2011-08-13Total downloads9 ( #113,901 of 548,973 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #63,511 of 548,973 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
