Laws of Nature
In our ordinary experience, we observe regularities: The daily sunrise, the sequence of seasons during the year, and the regular increase and decrease of the visible size of the moon. Do these observations indicate strict laws that hold rigorously and without any exception? David Hume argued that induction is not sufficient for concluding that there are strict laws behind the observed regularities. Hence, we cannot be sure that there are laws at all and our first question reads: Are there laws of nature? According to Hume, Kant, and many other philosophers this question cannot be answered by induction alone. Moreover, we are also confronted with the inverse question. If there are regularities that are based on strict laws that hold necessarily, may these laws be considered as genuine laws of nature? We discuss this problem with respect to the laws of logic and with respect to some laws of mathematics. Our first, still preliminary answer is that these formal and necessary laws should not be considered as laws of nature. But then we must find an answer to the main question of these first investigations: What is a law of nature?
ليست هناك تعليقات:
إرسال تعليق