ABSTRACT
The Existence of the Laws of Nature ............................................................................................. 388 The Hierarchy of Complexity ........................................................................................................ 388
Bottom-up Action ...................................................................................................................... 389 Top-down Causation .................................................................................................................390 The Causal Efœcacy of Nonmaterial Entities ............................................................................ 391
The Nature of Existence ................................................................................................................. 391 Matter and Forces ...................................................................................................................... 392 Consciousness ........................................................................................................................... 392 Physical and Biological Possibilities ........................................................................................ 393 Abstract (Platonic) Reality ........................................................................................................ 393 Existence and Epistemology ..................................................................................................... 393
The Nature of the Laws of Nature ................................................................................................. 394 The Basic Laws ......................................................................................................................... 394 Emergent Laws .......................................................................................................................... 394 Their Mathematical Description ............................................................................................... 395 The Nature of the Laws of Physics ........................................................................................... 395 The Ontological Nature of Effective (Higher-Level) Laws ...................................................... 396
Ultimate Reasons ........................................................................................................................... 397 Pure Chance, Signifying Nothing ............................................................................................. 397 High Probability ........................................................................................................................ 397 Necessity ................................................................................................................................... 399 Purpose or Design ..................................................................................................................... 399
The Nature of Evidence .................................................................................................................400 What Kind of Evidence Is Relevant? ........................................................................................400 The Nature of Ethics ................................................................................................................. 401 Experiences of the Transcendent ...............................................................................................402 The Weight of Evidence ............................................................................................................403
The Nature of the Argument ..........................................................................................................404 References ......................................................................................................................................405
