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The contingency of physical laws
Title / Series / Name
Publication Volume
Publication Issue
Pages
Authors
Editors
Keywords
Contingency
Dispositions
Fundamentality
Natural properties
Physical laws
Philosophy
History and Philosophy of Science
Dispositions
Fundamentality
Natural properties
Physical laws
Philosophy
History and Philosophy of Science
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14018/27511
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to explain the sense in which laws of physics are contingent. It argues, first, that contemporary Humean accounts cannot adequately explain the contingency of physical laws; and second, that Hume's own arguments against the metaphysical necessity of causal connections are not applicable in this context. The paper concludes by arguing that contingency is an essentially emergent, macroscopic phenomenon: we can understand the contingency of fundamental physical laws only through their relation to the distribution of macroscopic modal properties in the manifest world.
Topic
Publisher
Place of Publication
Type
Journal article
Date
2019-12
Language
ISBN
Identifiers
10.5007/1808-1711.2019V23N3P487