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/lp/springer-journals/empiricism-and-philosophy-of-physics-laws-IUHlTXt8XD
- Publisher
- Springer International Publishing
- Copyright
- © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
- ISBN
- 978-3-030-64952-4
- Pages
- 139 –167
- DOI
- 10.1007/978-3-030-64953-1_10
- Publisher site
- See Chapter on Publisher Site
Abstract
[This chapter contains a thoroughly empiricist account of laws of physics. Laws of physics are divided into fundamental and derived laws. Fundamental laws are those universally generalised conditionals which function as contextual definitions of theoretical predicates introduced into physical theory. The necessity attributed to both fundamental and derived laws is interpreted as a qualifier to the semantic predicate ‘true’; laws are necessarily true because they are definitions, or consequences of such definitions. Viewing nomological necessity in this way blocks the use of quantified modal logic in the semantics and ontology of physics.]
Published: Jan 14, 2021