Single Idea 6747

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

Full Idea

It can be objected that laws cannot do the job of explaining their instances if they are merely regularities, ...because something cannot explain itself.

Gist of Idea

Laws cannot explain instances if they are regularities, as something can't explain itself

Source

Alexander Bird (Philosophy of Science [1998], Ch.1)

Book Reference

Bird,Alexander: 'Philosophy of Science' [UCL Press 2000], p.44


A Reaction

A nice point. The objection assumes that a law should explain things, rather than just describing them. I take the model to be smoking-and-cancer; the statistics describe what is happening, but only lung biochemistry will explain it.