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Full Idea
The principle of least action is not a causal law, but is what I call a 'global law', which describes the essence of the global kind, which every object in the universe necessarily instantiates.
Gist of Idea
Least action is not a causal law, but a 'global law', describing a global essence
Source
Brian Ellis (Katzav on limitations of dispositions [2005])
Book Ref
-: 'Analysis 65.1 Jan 2005' [- 2005], p.91
A Reaction
As a fan of essentialism I find this persuasive. If I inherit part of my essence from being a mammal, I inherit other parts of my essence from being an object, and all objects would share that essence, so it would look like a 'law' for all objects.
6616 | Least action is not a causal law, but a 'global law', describing a global essence [Ellis] |
6612 | Without general principles, we couldn't predict the behaviour of dispositional properties [Ellis] |
6613 | The natural kinds are objects, processes and properties/relations [Ellis] |
6615 | A species requires a genus, and its essence includes the essence of the genus [Ellis] |
6614 | A hierarchy of natural kinds is elaborate ontology, but needed to explain natural laws [Ellis] |