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Dooyeweerd noted that the idea of cosmic order is present throughout the history of philosophy. The legacy of Plato and Aristotle was uprooted by modern nominalism which challenged the Greek-medieval realistic metaphysics by eliminating what Christianity saw as the God-given order for (law for) creatures and the orderliness of creatures. Denying universality outside the human mind eliminated any God-given order for and orderliness of creatures. This created a vacuum quickly filled by nominalism, for now human understanding took over the role of law-giver (Kant). Historicism and the linguistic turn pursued the road to an unbridled irrationalism and relativism. All of this adds up to a systematic elimination of the idea of a creational order. Clearly these diverging developments bring to expression the abyss between the spirit of modern humanism and reformational Christianity. Alternatively, reformational philosophy explores the idea of a creational order by turning away from an epistemic point of departure towards an ontic perspective, making possible a new approach towards the various dimensions of reality. This new approach is designated as the transcendental-empirical method. It advances a new way of articulating the foundational role of a creational order or a cosmic law-order. This is illustrated by the provision of a definition of a natural law and of norming principles. The argument concludes by pointing out that the future of the idea of a creational order depends on a proper understanding of the constancy and universality of such an order—embedded in a non-reductionist ontology.

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-70881-2_3

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