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(2013) A non-philosophical theory of nature, Dordrecht, Springer.

Materials for a theory of nature

Anthony Paul Smith

pp. 189-216

A theory of nature that is thought separately from the World must be both non-philosophical and non-theological. It must be both for the theory and must avoid the trap of a Principle of Sufficient Philosophy that would circumscribe nature as a thing captured and examined by its own thought. It must also avoid an all-too-easy reversibility with God. In this way the hypostasized Nature of naturalism is a form of theological thinking. So, the theory must be non-philosophical in order to think nature as in-One, radically autonomous and foreclosed in-the-last-instance to thought, which nevertheless remains relatively autonomous, and must be non-theological to avoid the Principle of Sufficient Theology where the relatively autonomous thought becomes a mere echo of authority, not only of the standard theologies of Worldly religious authorities, but also the unacknowledged theologies at work in those naturalisms that aim to "mirror Nature." The practice of thinking outside these specular forms of thinking, with their complementary forms of self-sufficiency discussed already in part I, is the unilateralization of this dyad of earth and divinities.

Publication details

DOI: 10.1057/9781137331977_13

Full citation:

Smith, A.P. (2013). Materials for a theory of nature, in A non-philosophical theory of nature, Dordrecht, Springer, pp. 189-216.

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