Single Idea 15867

[catalogued under 26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 7. Strictness of Laws]

Full Idea

The laws of nature are not simple descriptions of what can be seen to happen. They are descriptions of abstractions and idealisations from a somewhat messy reality.

Gist of Idea

Laws describe abstract idealisations, not the actual mess of nature

Source

Rom Harré (Laws of Nature [1993], 1)

Book Reference

Harré,Rom: 'Laws of Nature' [Duckworth 1993], p.34


A Reaction

This view seems to have increasingly gripped modern philosophers, so that the old view of God decreeing a few simple equations to run the world has faded away.