Combining Philosophers
Ideas for Stilpo, Alexander Bird and Mulligan/Simons/Smith
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26 ideas
26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 1. Laws of Nature
6762
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Newton's laws cannot be confirmed individually, but only in combinations [Bird]
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6763
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Parapsychology is mere speculation, because it offers no mechanisms for its working [Bird]
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6772
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Existence requires laws, as inertia or gravity are needed for mass or matter [Bird]
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9507
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Laws are explanatory relationships of things, which supervene on their essences [Bird]
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26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 2. Types of Laws
9488
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Laws are either disposition regularities, or relations between properties [Bird]
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26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 4. Regularities / a. Regularity theory
6740
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'All uranium lumps are small' is a law, but 'all gold lumps are small' is not [Bird]
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6741
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There can be remarkable uniformities in nature that are purely coincidental [Bird]
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6742
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A law might have no instances, if it was about things that only exist momentarily [Bird]
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6743
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If laws are just instances, the law should either have gaps, or join the instances arbitrarily [Bird]
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6744
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Where is the regularity in a law predicting nuclear decay? [Bird]
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6747
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Laws cannot explain instances if they are regularities, as something can't explain itself [Bird]
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6746
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There may be many laws, each with only a few instances [Bird]
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9496
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That other diamonds are hard does not explain why this one is [Bird]
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6748
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Similar appearance of siblings is a regularity, but shared parents is what links them [Bird]
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6749
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We can only infer a true regularity if something binds the instances together [Bird]
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6803
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If we only infer laws from regularities among observations, we can't infer unobservable entities. [Bird]
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6801
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Accidental regularities are not laws, and an apparent regularity may not be actual [Bird]
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9479
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Dispositional essentialism says laws (and laws about laws) are guaranteed regularities [Bird]
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26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 4. Regularities / b. Best system theory
6745
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A regularity is only a law if it is part of a complete system which is simple and strong [Bird]
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6802
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With strange enough predicates, anything could be made out to be a regularity [Bird]
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26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 5. Laws from Universals
9473
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Laws cannot offer unified explanations if they don't involve universals [Bird]
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9484
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If the universals for laws must be instantiated, a vanishing particular could destroy a law [Bird]
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26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 8. Scientific Essentialism / b. Scientific necessity
9506
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Salt necessarily dissolves in water, because of the law which makes the existence of salt possible [Bird]
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26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 8. Scientific Essentialism / c. Essence and laws
23713
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Most laws supervene on fundamental laws, which are explained by basic powers [Bird, by Friend/Kimpton-Nye]
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26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 8. Scientific Essentialism / d. Knowing essences
6789
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If flame colour is characteristic of a metal, that is an empirical claim needing justification [Bird]
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26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 9. Counterfactual Claims
9489
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Essentialism can't use conditionals to explain regularities, because of possible interventions [Bird]
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