Principles and Platitudes

Matthew D. Lund

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

One thing we noted in the last chapter was how the label “law of nature” is applied to several quite different types of statement. Boyle’s law is a straightforward law of nature. So is Snell’s law. Snell’s law, however, involves a theoretical term—“light ray.” Boyle’s law requires no such term. The laws of motion and of electromagnetics and thermodynamics are laws of nature, too, and they are riddled with theoretical terms, being less like formal summaries of what we observe and more like the axioms of a calculus. Thus, we are versatile in our use of the expression “law of nature.”

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationSynthese Library
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media B.V.
Pages271-282
Number of pages12
DOIs
StatePublished - 2018

Publication series

NameSynthese Library
Volume389
ISSN (Print)0166-6991
ISSN (Electronic)2542-8292

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • History and Philosophy of Science
  • History
  • Language and Linguistics
  • Logic

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