GOD AND THE ORDER OF NATURE IN EARLY MODERN THOUGHT: TOPICS IN METAPHYSICS, EPISTEMOLOGY AND NATURAL SCIENCE
GOD AND THE ORDER OF NATURE IN EARLY MODERN THOUGHT: TOPICS IN METAPHYSICS, EPISTEMOLOGY AND NATURAL SCIENCE

Summary/Abstract: Since science played such a major role in the secularization process and the “disenchantment of the world,” it was largely inevitable that the relationship between religion (broadly speaking) and science was to be understood in terms of “warfare.” Everyone knew from the beginning, however, who the winner was and which was the “good” side. Under the paradigm of the Napoleon-Laplace exchange, science was seen as the liberator of man from his own “idols:” the handmaiden had become not only the mistress, but also the redeemer. Today, it’s easy to discern the various ideological commitments involved in this picture, from Enlightenment “progresism,” to 19th century positivism and 20th century Marxism.

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