Newton and his followers clearly regarded what we call the “laws of nature” as a mode of divine action and governance of the natural world.77 The laws of nature not only reflected the past action of a divine creator who established the conditions necessary for orderly and regular natural processes, but the fundamental laws of nature also depend upon the ongoing and sustaining activity of a divine legislator.78 As University of Cambridge historian of science Simon Schaffer has explained, Newton thought what we call the laws of nature manifested “the essentially divine will evident in the common
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