Biblioteca Digital de VanguardiaSome Morals from the Physico-Mathematical Character of Scientific Laws
This article derives some morals from the examination of the physico-mathematical view of scientific laws and its place in the current debate. After revisiting the expression scientific law, which appears in scientific practice under various names (laws, principles, equations, symmetries, and postul...
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| Formato: | info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
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Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências
2021
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| Acceso en línea: | https://revistas.marilia.unesp.br/index.php/transformacao/article/view/7009 http://biblioteca-repositorio.clacso.edu.ar/handle/CLACSO/73626 |
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| author | Soto, Cristian |
| author_facet | Soto, Cristian |
| author_sort | Soto, Cristian |
| collection | Repositorio |
| description | This article derives some morals from the examination of the physico-mathematical view of scientific laws and its place in the current debate. After revisiting the expression scientific law, which appears in scientific practice under various names (laws, principles, equations, symmetries, and postulates), I briefly assess two extreme, opposite positions in the literature on laws, namely, full-blown metaphysics of laws of nature, which distinguishes such laws from the more mundane laws that we find in science; and the no-laws thesis, which ultimately contends that we should dispense with laws in science altogether. I argue that both positions fail to make sense of the laws that we find in scientific practice. For this, I outline the following twofold claim: first, most laws (in physics) are abstract mathematical statements; and second, they express some of the best physical generalisations achieved in this branch of science. Thus understood, a minimal construal of laws suggests that they are in principle intended to refer to those features of phenomena whose salience and stability are relevant for specific scientific tasks. |
| format | info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
| id | clacso-CLACSO73626 |
| institution | CLACSO, Repositorio Digital |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências |
| record_format | greenstone |
| spelling | clacso-CLACSO736262022-03-21T18:08:02Z Some Morals from the Physico-Mathematical Character of Scientific Laws Some Morals from the Physico-Mathematical Character of Scientific Laws Soto, Cristian Scientific laws laws of nature mathematics metaphysics ontology Scientific laws Laws of nature Mathematics Metaphysics This article derives some morals from the examination of the physico-mathematical view of scientific laws and its place in the current debate. After revisiting the expression scientific law, which appears in scientific practice under various names (laws, principles, equations, symmetries, and postulates), I briefly assess two extreme, opposite positions in the literature on laws, namely, full-blown metaphysics of laws of nature, which distinguishes such laws from the more mundane laws that we find in science; and the no-laws thesis, which ultimately contends that we should dispense with laws in science altogether. I argue that both positions fail to make sense of the laws that we find in scientific practice. For this, I outline the following twofold claim: first, most laws (in physics) are abstract mathematical statements; and second, they express some of the best physical generalisations achieved in this branch of science. Thus understood, a minimal construal of laws suggests that they are in principle intended to refer to those features of phenomena whose salience and stability are relevant for specific scientific tasks. This article derives some morals from the examination of the physico-mathematical view of scientific laws and its place in the current debate. After revisiting the expression scientific law, which appears in scientific practice under various names (laws, principles, equations, symmetries, and postulates), I briefly assess two extreme, opposite positions in the literature on laws, namely, full-blown metaphysics of laws of nature, which distinguishes such laws from the more mundane laws that we find in science; and the no-laws thesis, which ultimately contends that we should dispense with laws in science altogether. I argue that both positions fail to make sense of the laws that we find in scientific practice. For this, I outline the following twofold claim: first, most laws (in physics) are abstract mathematical statements; and second, they express some of the best physical generalisations achieved in this branch of science. Thus understood, a minimal construal of laws suggests that they are in principle intended to refer to those features of phenomena whose salience and stability are relevant for specific scientific tasks. 2021-08-30 2022-03-21T18:08:02Z 2022-03-21T18:08:02Z info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion https://revistas.marilia.unesp.br/index.php/transformacao/article/view/7009 10.1590/0101-3173.2020.v43n4.04.p65 http://biblioteca-repositorio.clacso.edu.ar/handle/CLACSO/73626 eng https://revistas.marilia.unesp.br/index.php/transformacao/article/view/7009/7859 Copyright (c) 2020 TRANS/FORM/AÇÃO: Revista de Filosofia http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 application/pdf Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências TRANS/FORM/AÇÃO: Revista de Filosofia; Vol. 43 No. 4: October-December/2020; 65-88 TRANS/FORM/AÇÃO: Revista de Filosofia; v. 43 n. 4: Outubro-Dezembro/2020; 65-88 1980-539X 0101-3173 |
| spellingShingle | Scientific laws laws of nature mathematics metaphysics ontology Scientific laws Laws of nature Mathematics Metaphysics Soto, Cristian Some Morals from the Physico-Mathematical Character of Scientific Laws |
| title | Some Morals from the Physico-Mathematical Character of Scientific Laws |
| title_full | Some Morals from the Physico-Mathematical Character of Scientific Laws |
| title_fullStr | Some Morals from the Physico-Mathematical Character of Scientific Laws |
| title_full_unstemmed | Some Morals from the Physico-Mathematical Character of Scientific Laws |
| title_short | Some Morals from the Physico-Mathematical Character of Scientific Laws |
| title_sort | some morals from the physico-mathematical character of scientific laws |
| topic | Scientific laws laws of nature mathematics metaphysics ontology Scientific laws Laws of nature Mathematics Metaphysics |
| url | https://revistas.marilia.unesp.br/index.php/transformacao/article/view/7009 http://biblioteca-repositorio.clacso.edu.ar/handle/CLACSO/73626 |