Regularities, Natural Patterns and Laws of Nature
| Autor: | Stathis Psillos |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | English<br />Spanish; Castilian |
| Rok vydání: | 2014 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Theoria, Vol 29, Iss 1, Pp 9-27 (2014) |
| Druh dokumentu: | article |
| ISSN: | 0495-4548 2171-679X |
| DOI: | 10.1387/theoria.8991 |
| Popis: | The goal of this paper is to sketch an empiricist metaphysics of laws of nature. The key idea is that there are regularities without regularity-enforcers. Differently put, there are natural laws without law-makers of a distinct metaphysical kind. This sketch will rely on the concept of a natural pattern and more significantly on the existence of a network of natural patterns in nature. The relation between a regularity and a pattern will be analysed in terms of mereology. Here is the road map. In section 2, I will briefly discuss the relation between empiricism and metaphysics, aiming to show that an empiricist metaphysics is possible. In section 3, I will offer arguments against stronger metaphysical views of laws. Then, in section 4 I will motivate nomic objectivism. In section 5, I will address the question ‘what is a regularity?’ and will develop a novel answer to it, based on the notion of a natural pattern. In section 6, I will raise the question: ‘what is a law of nature?’, the answer to which will be: a law of nature is a regularity that is characterised by the unity of a natural pattern. |
| Databáze: | Directory of Open Access Journals |
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