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Single Idea 17673

[filed under theme 14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / e. Lawlike explanations ]

Full Idea

The whole modern conception of the world is founded on the illusion that the so-called laws of nature are the explanations of natural phenomena.

Gist of Idea

The modern worldview is based on the illusion that laws explain nature

Source

Ludwig Wittgenstein (Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus [1921], 6.371)

Book Ref

Wittgenstein,Ludwig: 'Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (Pears)', ed/tr. Pears,D. /McGuinness,B. [RKP 1961], p.70

A Reaction

Love it! Not only does it say that lawlike explanation is wrong, but it registers that this is a profound feature of the modern view of the world, and not just a slightly misguided philosophical theory.

The 100 ideas from 'Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus'

9810 The 'Tractatus' is a masterpiece of anti-philosophy [Badiou on Wittgenstein]
10910 The best account of truth-making is isomorphism [Wittgenstein, by Mulligan/Simons/Smith]
18349 All truths have truth-makers, but only atomic truths correspond to them [Wittgenstein, by Rami]
10967 Wittgenstein's picture theory is the best version of the correspondence theory of truth [Read on Wittgenstein]
7087 Language is [propositions-elementary propositions-names]; reality is [facts-states of affairs-objects] [Wittgenstein, by Grayling]
4702 The account of truth in the 'Tractatus' seems a perfect example of the correspondence theory [Wittgenstein, by O'Grady]
6428 Wittgenstein is right that logic is just tautologies [Wittgenstein, by Russell]
18154 The sign of identity is not allowed in 'Tractatus' [Wittgenstein, by Bostock]
13429 The identity sign is not essential in logical notation, if every sign has a different meaning [Wittgenstein, by Ramsey]
7537 Wittgenstein convinced Russell that logic is tautologies, not Platonic forms [Wittgenstein, by Monk]
9467 Wittgenstein tried unsuccessfully to reduce quantifiers to conjunctions and disjunctions [Wittgenstein, by Jacquette]
13830 Logical truths are just 'by-products' of the introduction rules for logical constants [Wittgenstein, by Hacking]
6849 Wittgenstein hated logicism, and described it as a cancerous growth [Wittgenstein, by Monk]
7090 The 'Tractatus' is an extreme example of 'Logical Atomism' [Wittgenstein, by Grayling]
23507 Unlike the modern view of a set of worlds, Wittgenstein thinks of a structured manifold of them [Wittgenstein, by White,RM]
7088 Logic and maths can't say anything about the world, since, as tautologies, they are consistent with all realities [Wittgenstein, by Grayling]
23479 The Tractatus aims to reveal the necessities, without appealing to synthetic a priori truths [Wittgenstein, by Morris,M]
17665 The 'Tractatus' is instrumentalist about laws of nature [Wittgenstein, by Armstrong]
7084 What can be said is what can be thought, so language shows the limits of thought [Wittgenstein, by Grayling]
23499 This book says we should either say it clearly, or shut up [Wittgenstein]
23459 This work solves all the main problems, but that has little value [Wittgenstein]
13133 The world is facts, not things. Facts determine the world, and the world divides into facts [Wittgenstein]
22311 The world is determined by the facts, and there are no further facts [Wittgenstein]
23462 He says the world is the facts because it is the facts which fix all the truths [Wittgenstein, by Morris,M]
11027 To know an object you must know all its possible occurrences [Wittgenstein]
22321 To know an object we must know the form and content of its internal properties [Wittgenstein, by Potter]
23470 Each thing is in a space of possible facts [Wittgenstein]
23465 The 'form' of an object is its possible roles in facts [Wittgenstein]
23467 Objects are simple [Wittgenstein]
6429 All complex statements can be resolved into constituents and descriptions [Wittgenstein]
23466 Objects are the substance of the world [Wittgenstein]
23469 An imagined world must have something in common with the real world [Wittgenstein]
12869 Two objects may only differ in being different [Wittgenstein]
23468 Apart from the facts, there is only substance [Wittgenstein]
23464 In atomic facts the objects hang together like chain links [Wittgenstein]
23471 The structure of an atomic fact is how its objects combine; this possibility is its form [Wittgenstein]
23473 Do his existent facts constitute the world, or determine the world? [Morris,M on Wittgenstein]
22313 The existence of atomic facts is a positive fact, their non-existence a negative fact [Wittgenstein]
23482 The 'form' of the picture is its possible combinations [Wittgenstein]
7056 Pictures reach out to or feel reality, touching at the edges, correlating in its parts [Wittgenstein]
23483 Proposition elements correlate with objects, but the whole picture does not correspond to a fact [Wittgenstein, by Morris,M]
23486 Pictures are possible situations in logical space [Wittgenstein]
23485 No pictures are true a priori [Wittgenstein]
23487 What is thinkable is possible [Wittgenstein]
7089 A name is primitive, and its meaning is the object [Wittgenstein]
23506 Names are primitive, and cannot be analysed [Wittgenstein]
2939 If a sign is useless it is meaningless; that is the point of Ockham's maxim [Wittgenstein]
23492 Our language is an aspect of biology, and so its inner logic is opaque [Wittgenstein]
23510 Most philosophical questions arise from failing to understand the logic of language [Wittgenstein]
18268 Apparent logical form may not be real logical form [Wittgenstein]
8172 To understand a proposition means to know what is the case if it is true [Wittgenstein]
23488 Propositions are understood via their constituents [Wittgenstein]
23489 We translate by means of proposition constituents, not by whole propositions [Wittgenstein]
23511 Propositions use old expressions for a new sense [Wittgenstein]
10905 My fundamental idea is that the 'logical constants' do not represent [Wittgenstein]
22314 On white paper a black spot is a positive fact and a white spot a negative fact [Wittgenstein]
23508 Science is all the true propositions [Wittgenstein]
7968 A relation is internal if it is unthinkable that its object should not possess it [Wittgenstein]
7969 The order of numbers is an internal relation, not an external one [Wittgenstein]
7784 'Object' is a pseudo-concept, properly indicated in logic by the variable x [Wittgenstein]
21682 If a proposition is elementary, no other elementary proposition contradicts it [Wittgenstein]
22319 Analysis must end in elementary propositions, which are combinations of names [Wittgenstein]
18277 If q implies p, that is justified by q and p, not by some 'laws' of inference [Wittgenstein]
21683 Nothing can be inferred from an elementary proposition [Wittgenstein]
16907 If the truth doesn't follow from self-evidence, then self-evidence cannot justify a truth [Wittgenstein]
23493 'Not' isn't an object, because not-not-p would then differ from p [Wittgenstein]
11062 Logic is a priori because it is impossible to think illogically [Wittgenstein]
16909 Logic is a priori because we cannot think illogically [Wittgenstein]
6056 Identity is not a relation between objects [Wittgenstein]
22322 You can't define identity by same predicates, because two objects with same predicates is assertable [Wittgenstein]
6057 Two things can't be identical, and self-identity is an empty concept [Wittgenstein]
23498 The modern idea of the subjective soul is composite, and impossible [Wittgenstein]
23475 The form of a proposition must show why nonsense is unjudgeable [Wittgenstein]
2938 The limits of my language means the limits of my world [Wittgenstein]
23502 Logic fills the world, to its limits [Wittgenstein]
23497 Solipsism is correct, but can only be shown, not said, by the limits of my personal language [Wittgenstein]
2940 The subject stands outside our understanding of the world [Wittgenstein]
23501 There is no a priori order of things [Wittgenstein]
23503 Strict solipsism is pure realism, with the self as a mere point in surrounding reality [Wittgenstein]
18153 A number is a repeated operation [Wittgenstein]
18160 The concept of number is just what all numbers have in common [Wittgenstein]
18161 The theory of classes is superfluous in mathematics [Wittgenstein]
18162 The propositions of logic are analytic tautologies [Wittgenstein]
23495 The tautologies of logic show the logic of language and the world [Wittgenstein]
15089 Logical proof just explicates complicated tautologies [Wittgenstein]
19292 Logic doesn't split into primitive and derived propositions; they all have the same status [Wittgenstein]
23509 The logic of the world is shown by tautologies in logic, and by equations in mathematics [Wittgenstein]
23504 Logic concerns everything that is subject to law; the rest is accident [Wittgenstein]
2941 Induction accepts the simplest law that fits our experiences [Wittgenstein]
9442 The only necessity is logical necessity [Wittgenstein]
17673 The modern worldview is based on the illusion that laws explain nature [Wittgenstein]
23496 Two colours in the same place is ruled out by the logical structure of colour [Wittgenstein]
2942 The sense of the world must lie outside the world [Wittgenstein]
2943 Ethics cannot be put into words [Wittgenstein]
2944 If a question can be framed at all, it is also possible to answer it [Wittgenstein]
6591 Doubts can't exist if they are inexpressible or unanswerable [Wittgenstein]
7086 Good philosophy asserts science, and demonstrates the meaninglessness of metaphysics [Wittgenstein]
23512 Once you understand my book you will see that it is nonsensical [Wittgenstein]
2937 What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence [Wittgenstein]
6870 I say (contrary to Wittgenstein) that philosophy expresses what we thought we must be silent about [Ansell Pearson on Wittgenstein]