How to be a powers theorist about functional laws, conservation laws and symmetries

Bibliographic Data

ID21370525
AuthorsSamuel Kimpton‐nye (0000-0001-9774-7247, University of Bristol, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume180
Issue1
Pages317-332
Publication date2023-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePhilosophical Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0031-8116 • E-ISSN: 1573-0883
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s11098-022-01903-5
OpenAlexW4311046770
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited32

This paper defends an account of the laws of nature in terms of irreducibly modal properties (aka powers ) from the threat posed by functional laws, conservation laws and symmetries. It thus shows how powers theorists can avoid ad hoc explanations and resist an inflated ontology of powers and governing laws. The key is to understand laws not as flowing from the essences of powers , as per Bird (2007), but as features of a description of how powers are possibly distributed, as per Demarest (2017), Kimpton-Nye (2017, 2021) and Williams (2019); call this the Powers-BSA . This underappreciated powers-based account of laws is continuous with actual scientific practice and thereby quite naturally accommodates functional laws, conservation laws and symmetries. This paper thus positions the Powers-BSA as the leading anti-Humean account of the relationship between laws and properties

Conservation law · Epistemology · Homogeneous space · Metaphysics · Philosophy of language · Physical law · Political science · Evolution and Science Education · Law · Mathematics · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science · Philosophy and Theoretical Science

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access