Abstract

Every once in a while a book appears that presents in systematic form the current state of human knowledge. The Orders of Nature is such a book. While it includes concise summaries of prominent theories in the natural sciences and to a lesser extent in the social sciences and humanities, it is much more than a general compendium of thought today. Its presentations are organized and interpreted according to the perspective of a naturalistic metaphysics. The result is an unusually impressive achievement worthy of wide dissemination and discussion.That Lawrence Cahoone authored a synoptic metaphysics is laudable in itself. The preference accorded analysis and logical precision among Anglo-American philosophers during ..