The Contingency of the Laws of Nature

The Contingency of the Laws of Nature by Emile Boutroux delves into the concept of harmony and unity in the living world contrasting it with the isolation and division in the inorganic world. It explores the power of consciousness in uniting psychic powers and the will in ruling over the body and passions. Society is portrayed as a moral hierarchy that extends the power of man. The book discusses the impact of isolation on inner and outer freedom highlighting the importance of pursuing higher ideals. It questions the applicability of spontaneity to beings without consciousness and emphasizes the pursuit of individual ideals in nature. The principles of physiology physics and mathematics are shown to have aesthetic origins suggesting a deeper meaning behind logical and causal relationships. The idea of necessity is linked to moral and aesthetic laws reflecting divine perfection and the pursuit of the ideal. The book concludes with a discussion on habit spontaneity and the potential for beings to unite with their ideal to achieve perfection.