ABSTRACT

This paper will look at David Malet Armstrong's conception of the Laws of Nature in light of Iqbal's conception of nature and divine action. For the sake of pragmatic austerity Armstrong rooted his theory in naturalism, physicalism, and an understanding of the world as a “state of affairs.” In contrast to Humean empiricists, nominalists, and transcendent realists, Armstrong affirmed the reality of both universals and particulars, which relate to each other in what Mumford calls a form of immanent and a posterior realism. It is out of this formulation that he developed his Laws of Nature as relations between universals. Due to the theoretical problems that typically arise from interactionist views (such as some forms of theism), Armstrong operates from a viewpoint that would question the conceivability of anything acting upon nature from beyond the spatio-temporal realm. However, the conception of God offered by Iqbal, the Ultimate Reality existing as “pure-duration”–holding together “the multiplicity of objects and events,” offers a view of nature not as “a mass of pure materiality occupying a void,” but as a “structure of events, a systematic mode of behavior” that is “organic” to the Ultimate Self. Nature is an expression of God's character, His habit. And, “nature”, or “laws of nature,” is our interpretation of the “creative activity” of the Creator. This essay will thus elaborate on the details of Iqbal's conception of God and divine action and the benefits it offers to one seeking to operate within the pragmatic benefits of Armstrong's system while maintaining a decidedly theistic worldview.

摘要

本文将根据伊克巴尔的自然观和神圣行动来探讨大卫·马莱特·阿姆斯特朗的自然法则观。为了务实的紧缩，阿姆斯特朗将他的理论植根于自然主义、物理主义以及对世界作为“事态”的理解。与休谟经验主义者、唯名论者和先验现实主义者相反，阿姆斯特朗肯定了普遍性和特殊性的现实，它们以芒福德所谓的内在现实主义和后天现实主义的形式相互关联。正是根据这一表述，他将自然法则发展为共相之间的关系。由于相互作用主义观点（例如某些形式的有神论）通常会产生理论问题，阿姆斯特朗的观点质疑任何在时空领域之外作用于自然的事物的可想象性。然而，伊克巴尔提出的上帝概念，即作为“纯粹持续性”存在的终极现实——将“物体和事件的多样性”结合在一起，提供了一种自然观，而不是“占据虚空的纯粹物质性的质量”，而是作为一种“事件的结构，一种系统的行为模式”，对于终极自我来说是“有机的”。自然是上帝性格和习惯的表达。而且，“自然”或“自然法则”是我们对造物主“创造活动”的解释。