Ideas from 'Introduction to Philosophical Papers II' by David Lewis [1986], by Theme Structure

[found in 'Philosophical Papers Vol.2' by Lewis,David [OUP 1986,0-19-503646-8]].

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7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 5. Supervenience / d. Humean supervenience

16210

Humean supervenience says the world is just a vast mosaic of qualities in space-time

			Full Idea: Humean supervenience says the world is a vast mosaic of local matters of particular fact. We have a geometry of external relations of spatio-temporal distance between points, and local qualities at points. …In short: we have an arrangement of qualities.
			From: David Lewis (Introduction to Philosophical Papers II [1986], p.ix-x)
			A reaction: [compressed] This is the key fundamental tenet of David Lewis's philosophy. He names it after Hume because it contains no necessary connections. It is 'supervenient' because all worldly truths reduce to and depend on the mosaic. His thesis is contingent.

26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 11. Against Laws of Nature

9426	The world is just a vast mosaic of little matters of local particular fact

			Full Idea: The world is a vast mosaic of local matters of particular fact, just one little thing and then another.
			From: David Lewis (Introduction to Philosophical Papers II [1986])
			A reaction: Basing laws on this picture is what Lewis calls 'Humean Supervenience'.