Single Idea 15860

[catalogued under 26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 7. Strictness of Laws]

Full Idea

We do not take laws to be recordings of what happens perchance or for the most part, but specifications of what happens necessarily

Gist of Idea

We take it that only necessary happenings could be laws

Source

Rom Harré (Laws of Nature [1993], 1)

Book Reference

Harré,Rom: 'Laws of Nature' [Duckworth 1993], p.9


A Reaction

This sounds like a plausible necessary condition for a law, but it may not be a sufficient one. Are trivial necessities laws? On this view if there are no necessities then there are no laws.