more from this thinker     |     more from this text

Single Idea 6772

[filed under theme 26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 1. Laws of Nature ]

Full Idea

I suspect that what we mean by 'mass' and 'matter' depends on our identifying the existence of laws of inertia and gravity; hence the idea of a world without laws is incoherent, for there to be anything at all there must be some laws and some kinds.

Gist of Idea

Existence requires laws, as inertia or gravity are needed for mass or matter

Source

Alexander Bird (Philosophy of Science [1998], Ch.3)

Book Ref

Bird,Alexander: 'Philosophy of Science' [UCL Press 2000], p.113

A Reaction

I find this counterintuitive. Reasonably stable existence requires something reasonably like laws. We only understand the physical world because we interact with it. But neither of those is remotely as strong as Bird's claim.

The 40 ideas with the same theme [nature and status of the regularities of nature]:

23314 Greeks explained regularity by intellectual design, not by laws [Democritus, by Frede,M]
16746 Principles of things are not hidden features of forms, but the laws by which they were formed [Newton]
15863 The principles of my treatise are designed to fit with a belief in God [Newton]
13194 God's laws would be meaningless without internal powers for following them [Leibniz]
12907 Each possible world contains its own laws, reflected in the possible individuals of that world [Leibniz]
13177 An entelechy is a law of the series of its event within some entity [Leibniz]
5467 Euler said nature is instrinsically passive, and minds cause change [Euler, by Ellis]
23670 Scientists don't know the cause of magnetism, and only discover its regulations [Reid]
23671 Laws are rules for effects, but these need a cause; rules of navigation don't navigate [Reid]
23679 The principle of the law of nature is that matter is passive, and is acted upon [Reid]
14800 The world is full of variety, but laws seem to produce uniformity [Peirce]
19254 Our laws of nature may be the result of evolution [Peirce]
14825 In religious thought nature is a complex of arbitrary acts by conscious beings [Nietzsche]
17633 The law of gravity has many consequences beyond its grounding observations [Russell]
20638 General relativity assumes laws of nature are the same in all frames of reference [Einstein, by Close]
17662 Science depends on laws of nature to study unobserved times and spaces [Armstrong]
17682 A universe couldn't consist of mere laws [Armstrong]
5442 For 'passivists' behaviour is imposed on things from outside [Ellis]
5473 The laws of nature imitate the hierarchy of natural kinds [Ellis]
5474 Laws of nature tend to describe ideal things, or ideal circumstances [Ellis]
5475 We must explain the necessity, idealisation, ontology and structure of natural laws [Ellis]
13595 Laws don't exist in the world; they are true of the world [Ellis]
15865 Newton's First Law cannot be demonstrated experimentally, as that needs absence of external forces [Harré]
15864 Classification is just as important as laws in natural science [Harré]
15727 Physics aims for a list of natural properties [Lewis]
8581 Physics discovers laws and causal explanations, and also the natural properties required [Lewis]
14581 The normative view says laws show the natural behaviour of natural kind members [Lowe, by Mumford/Anjum]
14338 In the 'laws' view events are basic, and properties are categorical, only existing when manifested [Mumford]
9444 There are four candidates for the logical form of law statements [Mumford]
16242 Laws of nature are ontological bedrock, and beyond analysis [Maudlin]
16247 Laws are primitive, so two indiscernible worlds could have the same laws [Maudlin]
16272 Fundamental laws say how nature will, or might, evolve from some initial state [Maudlin]
9507 Laws are explanatory relationships of things, which supervene on their essences [Bird]
6762 Newton's laws cannot be confirmed individually, but only in combinations [Bird]
6763 Parapsychology is mere speculation, because it offers no mechanisms for its working [Bird]
6772 Existence requires laws, as inertia or gravity are needed for mass or matter [Bird]
14902 Science may have uninstantiated laws, inferred from approaching some unrealised limit [Ladyman/Ross]
15151 Many causal laws do not refer to kinds, but only to properties [Chakravartty]
14346 Dispositional essentialism says fundamental laws of nature are strict, not ceteris paribus [Corry]
22622 Any process can go backwards or forwards in time without violating the basic laws of physics [Ingthorsson]