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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Full Idea:
The laws of a domain are the fundamental, general explanatory relationships between kinds, quantities, and qualities of that domain, that supervene upon the essential natures of those things.
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From:
Barbara Vetter (Dispositional Essentialism and the Laws of Nature [2012], 9.3)
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A reaction:
Hm. How small can the domain be? Can it embrace the multiverse? Supervenience is a rather weak relationship. How about 'are necessitated/entailed by'? Are the relationships supposed to do the explaining? I would have thought the natures did that.
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14014
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Space alone, and time alone, will fade away, and only their union has an independent reality [Minkowski]
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Full Idea:
Henceforth, space by itself, and time by itself, are doomed to fade away into mere shadows, and only a kind of union of the two will preserve an independent reality.
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From:
Hermann Minkowski (Space and Time [1908], Intro)
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A reaction:
Notice the qualification that it is a 'kind of' union. Deep confusion arises from exaggerating the analogy between space and time. Craig Bourne remarks (2006:157) that this shows independence of measurement, not of reality
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