Full Idea
The standard objection is that if the laws of nature were actually contingent, we would already have noticed it.
Gist of Idea
If the laws of nature are contingent, shouldn't we already have noticed it?
Source
Quentin Meillassoux (After Finitude; the necessity of contingency [2006], 4)
Book Reference
Meillassoux: 'After Finitude: the necessity of contingency', ed/tr. Brassier,R [Bloomsbury 2008], p.84
A Reaction
Meillassoux offers a sustained argument that the laws of nature are necessarily contingent. In Idea 19660 he distinguishes contingencies that must change from those that merely could change.
Related Idea
Idea 19660 Possible non-being which must be realised is 'precariousness'; absolute contingency might never not-be [Meillassoux]