ABSTRACT
Mumford outlines a major new theory of natural laws. His book begins with the question of whether there are any genuinely law-like phenomena in nature. The discussion addresses questions currently being debated by metaphysicians such as whether the laws of nature are necessary or contingent and whether a property can be identified independently of its causal role.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter |17 pages
Laws in science and philosophy
part |46 pages
Humean lawlessness
chapter |10 pages
The lawless world
chapter |19 pages
Regularities and best systems
chapter |15 pages
Hume's argument
part |59 pages
Nomological realism
chapter |16 pages
The nomological argument
chapter |22 pages
Natural necessitation relations
chapter |19 pages
Necessitarian essentialism
part |81 pages
Realist lawlessness