Law And Constancy: Chapter Analysis

In this part of the chapter, the author examines the principle of law and constancy. The author begins by noting how the creationist view, even espoused in some ways by such pivotal thinkers as Issac Newton to think of there being some definite order, or framework of rules we know as laws of nature, established by what could (in their minds) only be a god (albeit in a time where science was in its infancy and so other ways of contemplating order in the universe hadn’t been developed besides the religious) (274). This, the author implies, allows for some fundamental overlapp between sicence and religion. However, as the author goes on to argue, “...science requires regularity and lawful behavior on the part of the world: without this science would be impossible. But science involves law in another way: according to a very common view, these laws are available to us, we can discover them; and part of the job of science is to describe …show more content…
They begin by analyzing the discord between naturalism and science (308). After all, naturalism holds there can be no rational or planned order to the universe, even though science (which the naturalist bears false allegiance to) is built upon the very premise that such a rational order exists and that it can be found by rational means (308-309); and evolutionary theory, even more (310). Looking further at the conflict between naturalism and evolution (and therefore science), ultimately, the author argues that given, our faculties of reason sometimes enable us to have “correct” beliefs, and that in a chaotic, arational world without a creator to give us this rationality, naturalism becomes not only nonsensical, but it also becomes harder to doubt “that a purspose of our cognitive systems is that of serving us with true belifs, and that they do, in fact, furnish us with mostly true beliefs (315).”