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Laws and Lawmakers

By Marc Lange

Laws and Lawmakers

By Marc Lange

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Description
Laws of nature have long puzzled philosophers. What distinguishes laws from facts about the world that do not rise to the level of laws? How can laws be contingent and nevertheless necessary? In this brief, accessible study, Lange offers provocative and original answers to these questions. He argues that laws are distinguished by their necessity, which is grounded in primitive subjunctive facts (expressed by counterfactual conditionals). While recognizing that natural necessity is distinct from logical, metaphysical, and mathematical necessity, Lange explains how natural necessity constitutes a species of the same genus as those other varieties of necessity.

Along the way, Lange discusses the relation between laws and objective chances, as well as such unjustly neglected topics as the completeness of the laws of physics and whether the laws of nature can change. Lange's elegant, engagingly written book is non-technical and suitable for undergraduate philosophers (and undergraduate scientists interested in the logical foundations of science). It is "must reading" for metaphysicians and philosophers of science working on laws, chance, counterfactuals, modality, or the philosophy of physics.
Product details
Edition:
illustrated
Number of Pages:
276
Release Date:
2009-07-09
Publication Date:
2009-07-01
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Languages:
Original: English
ISBN10:
0195328132
ISBN13:
9780195328134
GPSR Manufacturer Reference:
[email protected]
Weight:
524 g
Height:
145 cm
Width:
222 cm
Thickness:
20 cm
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