What is a Law of Nature?
What is a Law of Nature?
First published in 1985, D. M. Armstrong's original work on what laws of nature are has continued to be influential in the areas of metaphysics and philosophy of science. Presenting a definitive attack on the sceptical Humean view, that laws are no more than a regularity of coincidence between stances of properties, Armstrong establishes his own theory and defends it concisely and systematically against objections. Presented in a fresh twenty-first-century series livery, and including a specially commissioned preface written by Marc Lange, illuminating its continuing importance and relevance to philosophical enquiry, this influential work is available for a new generation of readers.
- Unique to Cambridge, this classic book has been revived and rebranded for a twenty-first-century readership
- Establishes D. M. Armstrong's original theory of laws of nature
- Offers a definitive critique of the orthodox Humean sceptical view of causation
- Features a specially commissioned preface written by Marc Lange
Product details
September 2016Hardback
9781107142312
180 pages
235 × 156 × 15 mm
0.4kg
Available
Table of Contents
- Preface to this edition Marc Lange
- Acknowledgements
- Part I. A Critique of the Regularity Theory:
- 1. Introductory
- 2. Critique of the regularity theory (1): the problem of accidental uniformities
- 3. Critique of the regularity theory (2)
- 4. Critique of the regularity theory (3)
- 5. Can the regularity theory be sophisticated?
- Part II. Laws of Nature as Relations between Universals:
- 6. Laws of nature as relations between universals
- 7. Functional laws
- 8. Unsubstantiated laws
- 9. Probabilistic laws
- 10. Further considerations concerning the form of laws
- 11. Are the laws of nature necessary or contingent?
- Conclusions
- Index.
