Laws in Nature

ISBN-13: 9780415311281 / Angielski / Twarda / 2004 / 248 str.

Stephen Mumford

Opis

Mumford outlines a major new theory of natural laws. His book begins with the question of whether there are any genuinely law-like phenomena in nature. The discussion addresses questions currently being debated by metaphysicians such as whether the laws of nature are necessary or contingent and whether a property can be identified independently of its causal role.

Spis treści

1. Introduction: Laws in Science and Philosophy  Part One: Humean Lawlessness  2. The Lawless World  3. Regularities and Best Systems  4. Hume's Argument  Part Two: Nomological Realism  5. The Nomological Argument  6. Natural Necessitation Relations  7. Necessitarian Essentialism  Part Three: Realist Lawlessness  8. Are Natural Laws a Natural Kind  9. The Central Dilemma  10. Modal Properties  11. Objections and Replies  12. Conclusion: Law and Metaphor

O autorze

Stephen Mumford is Reader in Metaphysics in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Nottingham. He is the author of Dispositions (1998) and various papers in metaphysics. He is editor of Russell on Metaphysics (2003) and Powers by the late George Molnar (2003).