Natural Laws as Dispositions

Florian Fischer

Published by De Gruyter 2018

Natural Laws as Dispositions

Florian Fischer

Volume 76 in the series Philosophische Analyse / Philosophical Analysis

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110594843

Overview
Contents

About this book

The book provides a novel account of laws of nature via dispositions. Laws of nature play a paramount role in philosophy, science and everyday life. Understanding laws of nature is philosophically interesting on its own right but also many important notions belonging to philosophy of science, like causation, prediction and explanation, are intimately related to the laws of nature.

The book outlines the alleged characteristics of the laws of nature and introduces the main families of theories of laws of nature – neo-humean, ADT and dispositional theories. It then develops an account of dispositions the `triadic process picture of dispositions’ (TPD) and applies it to the debate about laws of nature. Finally, the (TPD) account of the necessity of the laws of nature is presented: laws of nature are naturally necessary and metaphysically contingent.

Thus the book provides an introduction to the debates about laws of nature as well as dispositions, while at the same time developing a novel theory and thus is interesting for the beginner as well as expert in these fields.

Author / Editor information

Florian Fischer, University of Bonn, Germany.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Acknowledgements Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Laws of Nature Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
2. Analyses of dispositions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
3. Composition Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	71
4. Progressing to Processes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	106
5. Dispositional Laws of Nature Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	123
Case File Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	145
Theories of Dispositions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	149
The Story of Zucky Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	151
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	153
Author Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	161
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	163

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Academics, institutes, libraries
Pages
- Front matter: 8
- Main content: 165
Keywords: Laws of nature; philosophy of science; metaphysics

eBook

Published: September 10, 2018
ISBN: 9783110594843

Hardcover

Published: September 10, 2018
ISBN: 9783110595260