Marc Lange. Laws and Lawmakers: Science, Metaphysics, and the Laws of Nature

REVIEW : Marc Lange , Laws and Lawmakers : Science , Metaphysics , and the Laws of Nature

Metaphysics of Laws of Nature

— ABSTRACT I argue that, because fundamental scientific theories are attempts to tell us something about reality, we are required to take into account the metaphysical features of those theories. I claim that a guarded realism is the proper stance to take toward fundamental scientific theories: philosophically, one must guard against accepting every posit at face value. Laws of nature are one o...

Laws in Metaphysics

Are Miracles Violations of the Laws of Nature?

Classical theism holds that God rules the world not only indirectly, by the natural laws established with creation, but through actions or direct interventions that interfere with natural processes and human actions. These direct interventions are usually called miracles. Modern Western philosophy, at least starting from Spinoza and Hume, has defined miracles as “violations of the laws of natur...

Lange and Laws, Kinds, and Counterfactuals

In this paper I examine and question Marc Lange’s account of laws, and his claim that the law delineating the range of natural kinds of fundamental particle has a lesser grade of necessity that the laws connecting the fundamental properties of those kinds with their derived properties.