The Metaphysics of Ceteris Paribus Laws
Published on 15. January 2007
Book
Hardback
196 pages
978-3-938793-42-8 (ISBN)
Description
Universality is not sufficient to distinguish laws of nature from accidental regularities. A multitude of additional defining features have been suggested. Yet, once it is acknowledged that exceptionless universality is not the only criterion for lawhood it is possible to start questioning whether it is necessary.
Markus Schrenk's The Metaphysics of Ceteris Paribus Laws takes this bold step and it's provocative conclusion is that existing theories - especially David Lewis's and David Armstrong's - are, in fact, strong enough to guarantee lawhood even if there are instances that do not conform to the laws. Schrenk also advances two novel theories for special science ceteris paribus laws. His unorthodox exploration has the potential to stimulate a new debate about laws, lawhood and exceptions.
This work has received the Award for Furthering Research in Ontology of the German Society for Analytic Philosophy (GAP).
Markus Schrenk's The Metaphysics of Ceteris Paribus Laws takes this bold step and it's provocative conclusion is that existing theories - especially David Lewis's and David Armstrong's - are, in fact, strong enough to guarantee lawhood even if there are instances that do not conform to the laws. Schrenk also advances two novel theories for special science ceteris paribus laws. His unorthodox exploration has the potential to stimulate a new debate about laws, lawhood and exceptions.
This work has received the Award for Furthering Research in Ontology of the German Society for Analytic Philosophy (GAP).
More details
Person
Markus Schrenk is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow within the Metaphysics of Science Project undertaken by the Universities of Nottingham, Bristol and Birmingham. He was previously a Junior Research Fellow and Lecturer in Philosophy at Worcester College, Oxford. He received his DPhil from Oxford University in 2006.