The Enlightenment view, on the other hand, postulates laws of nature, rather than
causal powers and natural kinds, as the basis of scientific explanation. (The Aristotelian
view need not deny the existence of laws of nature; it simply denies that such laws can
exist or be understood independently of objects with causal powers.) Support for the neo-
Aristotelian position comes from two sources; a new understanding of the history of
science, and developments in philosophy itself.