"This book explores the relationship between a scientifically updated Aristotelian philosophy of nature and a scientifically engaged theology of nature that cuts across interdisciplinary boundaries. It features original contributions by some of the best scholars engaging with Aristotelianism in contemporary metaphysics, philosophy of science, and philosophical theology. Despite the growing interest in Aristotelian approaches to contemporary philosophy of science, few metaphysicians have engaged directly with the question of how a neo-Aristotelian metaphysics of nature might change the landscape for theological discussion concerning theology and naturalism, the place of human beings within nature, or the problem of divine causality. The chapters in this volume are collected into three thematic sections: Naturalism and Nature, Mind and Nature, and God and Nature. By pushing the current boundaries of neo-Aristotelian metaphysics to recover the traditional notion of substantial forms in physics, reframe the principle of proportionality in biology, and restore the hierarchy of being familiar to ancient philosophy, this book advances a metaphysically unified framework that accommodates both scientific and theological knowledge, enriching the interaction between science, philosophy and theology. Neo-Aristotelian Metaphysics and the Theology of Nature will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working in metaphysics, philosophy of science, natural theology, philosophical theology, and analytic theology"--
This book explores the relationship between an Aristotelian philosophy of nature and a scientifically engaged theology of nature that cuts across interdisciplinary boundaries. It features essays by some of the best scholars engaging with Aristotelianism in contemporary metaphysics, philosophy of science, and philosophical theology.
Prologue
John Marenbon
Introduction: Reflections on science, theology and the new Aristotelianism
William M. R. Simpson, Robert C. Koons, and James Orr
Part I: Naturalism and Nature
1. From Quantum Physics to Classical Metaphysics
William M. R. Simpson
2. Essential Thermochemical Powers
Robert C. Koons
3. Restoring the Hierarchy of Being
David Oderberg
4. Evolution and the Principle of Proportionality
Stephen Boulter
Part II: Mind and Nature
5. Free Will in a Network of Powers
Timothy OConnor
6. Animal Powers and Human Agency
Janice Chik
7. The Power to Perform Experiments
Daniel De Haan
8. Logical and Mathematical Powers
Antonio Ramos-Diaz
9. Persons, Souls and Life After Death
Christopher Hauser
10. Angels, Principalities and Powers
Travis Dumsday
Part III: God and Nature
11. Grounding and Participation in God
Ross Inman
12. God and Hylomorphism
Anne Peterson
13. Natural and Supernatural
Edward Feser
14. God, Chance and Evolution
Alexander Pruss
15. Teleology, Providence and Powers
Simon Kopf
16. Divine Lawmaking: Powers and Kinds
James Orr
Epilogue
Anna Marmodoro
William M.R.Simpson is Junior Research Fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge and an honorary research fellow in the philosophy of nature at the University of St Andrews. He is the author of Surprises in Theoretical Casimir Physics (2014) and the co-editor, with Robert C. Koons and Nicholas J. Teh, of Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives on Contemporary Science (Routledge, 2017).
Robert C. Koons is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. He is co-editor, with George Bealer, of The Waning of Materialism: New Essays in the Philosophy of Mind (2010) and, with William M.R.Simpson and Nicholas J. Teh of Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives on Contemporary Science (Routledge, 2017). He is also the co-author of Metaphysics: The Fundamentals (2015).
James Orr is University Lecturer in Philosophy of Religion at the University of Cambridge, and formerly the McDonald Postdoctoral Fellow in Theology, Ethics, and Public Life at Christ Church, Oxford. He is a trustee of St. Pauls Theological Centre, London, and a member of the Archbishop of Canterburys advisory group, the Lambeth Partnership.
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