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Single Idea 15240
[filed under theme 26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 8. Scientific Essentialism / c. Essence and laws
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Full Idea
The only sure way of distinguishing lawful and accidental universal statements is to point out that in the former cases we see why the regularity must hold, while in the latter case we do not.
Gist of Idea
In lawful universal statements (unlike accidental ones) we see why the regularity holds
Source
Harré,R./Madden,E.H. (Causal Powers [1975], 2.II)
Book Ref
Harré,R/Madden,E.H.: 'Causal Powers: A Theory of Natural Necessity' [Blackwell 1975], p.37
A Reaction
I agree with this, and also take it to be the solution to the problem of induction. That smoking causes cancer will be a true generalisation but not a law, until we see clearly why it happens.
Related Idea
Idea 16942
It is hard to see how regularities could be explained [Quine]
The
22 ideas
with the same theme
[relationship between essences and laws of nature]:
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17005
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Natural things observe certain laws, and things cannot do otherwise if they retain their forms
[Hooker,R]
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17023
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I am not saying gravity is essential to bodies
[Newton]
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17009
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I won't object if someone shows that gravity consistently arises from the action of matter
[Newton]
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19403
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Each of the infinite possible worlds has its own laws, and the individuals contain those laws
[Leibniz]
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13198
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Gravity is within matter because of its structure, and it can be explained.
[Leibniz]
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13093
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The only permanence in things, constituting their substance, is a law of continuity
[Leibniz]
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11945
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In addition to laws, God must also create appropriate natures for things
[Leibniz]
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12725
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Leibniz wanted to explain motion and its laws by the nature of body
[Leibniz, by Garber]
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16507
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The law within something fixes its persistence, and accords with general laws of nature
[Leibniz]
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19958
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Laws are the necessary relations that derive from the nature of things
[Montesquieu]
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7206
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Things are strong or weak, and do not behave regularly or according to rules or compulsions
[Nietzsche]
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7140
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Chemical 'laws' are merely the establishment of power relations between weaker and stronger
[Nietzsche]
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7142
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All motions and 'laws' are symptoms of inner events, traceable to the will to power
[Nietzsche]
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15470
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Causal laws are summaries of powers
[Martin,CB]
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6614
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A hierarchy of natural kinds is elaborate ontology, but needed to explain natural laws
[Ellis]
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18089
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Dispositions are not general laws, but laws of the natures of individual entities
[Place]
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15892
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Laws of nature state necessary connections of things, events and properties, based on models of mechanisms
[Harré]
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15240
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In lawful universal statements (unlike accidental ones) we see why the regularity holds
[Harré/Madden]
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9434
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Laws of nature are just the possession of essential properties by natural kinds
[Mumford]
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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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23778
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Powers contain lawlike features, pointing to possible future states
[Williams,NE]
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17993
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Laws are relations of kinds, quantities and qualities, supervening on the essences of a domain
[Vetter]
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