Single Idea 16942

[catalogued under 26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 4. Regularities / a. Regularity theory]

Full Idea

Why there have been regularities is an obscure question, for it is hard to see what would count as an answer.

Gist of Idea

It is hard to see how regularities could be explained

Source

Willard Quine (Natural Kinds [1969], p.126)

Book Reference

Quine,Willard: 'Ontological Relativity and Other Essays' [Columbia 1969], p.126


A Reaction

This is the standard pessimism of the 20th century Humeans, but it strikes me as comparable to the pessimism about science found in Locke and Hume. Regularities are explained all the time by scientists, though the lowest level may be hopeless.

Related Idea

Idea 15240 In lawful universal statements (unlike accidental ones) we see why the regularity holds [Harré/Madden]