Rethinking Order

This book presents a radical new picture of natural order. The Newtonian idea of a cosmos ruled by universal and exceptionless laws has been superseded; replaced by a conception of nature as a realm of diverse powers, potencies, and dispositions, a ''dappled world''. There is order in nature, but it is more local, diverse, piecemeal, open, and emergent than Newton imagined.

In each chapter expert a...