  It is my conviction that a full understanding of the underlying philosophical disagreements on these questions will only come from a patient historical study of how the ‘Synthesis’ positions on these various issues, and those of their critics, arose. That I cannot do here. Rather, in what follows I will simply be presupposing certain answers to these questions of historical origins.  The list of references at the end of this essay includes a number of excellent pieces of work on this subject for those who share my convictions about its importance.