The Orders of Nature by Lawrence Cahoone (PDF)

Description

Winner of the 2015 John N. Findlay Award in Metaphysics presented by the Metaphysical Society of AmericaReviving and modernizing the tradition of post Darwinian naturalism, The Orders of Nature draws on philosophy and the natural sciences to present a naturalistic theory of reality. Conceiving of nature as systems, processes, and structures that exhibit diverse properties that can be hierarchically arranged, Lawrence Cahoone sketches a systematic metaphysics based on the following orders of nature: physical, material, biological, mental, and cultural. Using recent work in the science of complexity, hierarchical systems theory, and nonfoundational approaches to metaphysics, Cahoone analyzes these orders with explanations of the underlying science, covering a range of topics that includes general relativity and quantum field theory; chemistry and inorganic complexity; biology and telenomic explanation, or “purpose”; the theory of mind and mental causation as an animal phenomenon; and the human mind’s unique cultural abilities. The book concludes with an exploration of what answers such a theory of naturalism can provide to questions about values and God.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This is great book for the serious, yet non-professional philosopher. I say that not to imply that the pros will not find it to be beneficial, but only because I’m not a professional philosopher myself, and I love this book and Professor Cahoone’s open and relatable style. I admire his courage too. He takes the plunge into a wide range of scientific disciplines and brings his best understanding of them—which he humbly acknowledges to be cursory and incomplete—to bear on some of the most profound and fundamental questions of existence; questions (and some tentative and speculative answers) which most of the modern philosophers I’ve read seem unwilling to discuss in public. He seems like a very brilliant, yet very human and unpretentious man. If you’re the kind of person who spends a significant portion of your time pondering what it all might mean, where it all came from, and what your part might be, and you’re interested I reviewing a wide range of current knowledge from a variety of disciplines, this book may be for you!

⭐As evidenced by global focus on environment, “naturalism” (i.e., view that man is “in” & only “in” nature, in need of no explanation beyond natural processes) is arguably the next step from now-conventional “post-modern” skepticism. Indeed, evolutionary social science (i.e., understanding human psychology, society & culture as driven by evolutionary dynamics) is all over the news, science blogs, & academic literature.The key to understanding all this is concept of “emergence”, how complex systems arise from simpler components, & exhibit behavior unpredictable from components. This book carefully works through “emergence” from fundament levels of physics to human social behavior. Fascinating & authoritatively documented.Conclusion even goes on to argue “naturalism” doesn’t rule out a higher power (or whatever), just one that’s not somehow “in” nature. Interesting, even if a difficult sell to those disinclined to mysticism. Overall, a positive view of a universe in which just “being here” is it’s own reward..

⭐Listened to both of Dr. Cahoon’s Great Courses through the teaching company and found this book to be an excellent extension to them. Interesting interdisciplinary synthesis.

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