Re: Leibniz, Newton and the "giftedness" of creation

Bill Hamilton (hamilton@predator.cs.gmr.com)
Mon, 21 Sep 1998 16:43:20 -0400

At 02:56 PM 9/21/98 -0400, Ted Davis wrote:
>The more things change, the more they stay the same. But you'd expect an
>historian to think that, wouldn't you?
>
>In these interesting discussions of the "giftedness" of creation and whether
>or not God "intervenes" and, if so, whether those actions are "planned" in
>advance, I hear the same ground being gone over, the same ground that Newton
>and Leibniz fought over in the early 18th century. I can't quickly
>summarize here what they argued about -- "concluded" would not be accurate,
>any more than it would apply to this discussion now -- but I can point
>interested parties to H.G. Alexander, ed. The Leibniz-Clarke Correspondence
>(Manchester 1956). The entire volume is highly relevant. The only "new"
>thing I see here is the very helpful terminology provided by Howard Van
>Till, who refers to what Leibniz thought of as the perfection of God's plan
>for creation as "giftedness."
>
>Ted Davis
>
For those interested, there is a new paperback edition of this book,
published in 1998. Amazon.com has it in their catalog.

Thanks, Ted

Bill Hamilton
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William E. Hamilton, Jr., Ph.D.
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