Single Idea 4797

[catalogued under 10. Modality / A. Necessity / 7. Natural Necessity]

Full Idea

By defending a posteriori necessary statements, Kripke introduced the concept of a necessity in nature that was weaker than logical necessity; ..as a result, the dominant view of laws as mere regularities started to be seriously challenged.

Clarification

'A posteriori' necessities are discovered through experience

Gist of Idea

Instead of being regularities, maybe natural laws are the weak a posteriori necessities of Kripke

Source

report of Saul A. Kripke (Naming and Necessity lectures [1970]) by Stathis Psillos - Causation and Explanation §6.1

Book Reference

Psillos,Stathis: 'Causation and Explanation' [Acumen 2002], p.161


A Reaction

Most of Kripke's examples of discovered necessities seem to be identities, which seem to be as strong as any logical necessity. I'm not sure I can make sense of a 'less strong necessity'. Necessity sounds all-or-nothing to me.