Full Idea
Why there have been regularities is an obscure question, for it is hard to see what would count as an answer.
Gist of Idea
It is hard to see how regularities could be explained
Source
Willard Quine (Natural Kinds [1969], p.126)
Book Reference
Quine,Willard: 'Ontological Relativity and Other Essays' [Columbia 1969], p.126
A Reaction
This is the standard pessimism of the 20th century Humeans, but it strikes me as comparable to the pessimism about science found in Locke and Hume. Regularities are explained all the time by scientists, though the lowest level may be hopeless.
Related Idea
Idea 15240 In lawful universal statements (unlike accidental ones) we see why the regularity holds [Harré/Madden]