ABSTRACT

What does it mean to say of the natural world that it is enchanted? Should we be describing it in these terms? And if not, why not? I tackle these questions initially with reference to the supposedly secular conception of enchantment endorsed by John McDowell, and I argue that his naturalism can be rendered compatible with theism. If this is right, then there is room for allowing that the natural world is divinely enchanted, and I bring out the implications of this way of thinking, bearing in mind and responding to some familiar Nietzschean objections. I end on a mystical note.