ABSTRACT
The aim of this book is the development of a systematic realist account of science. Such an account must provide a comprehensive alternative to the positivism which since the time of Hume has fashioned our image of science. Central to the positivist vision of science is the Humean theory of causal laws. It is a principal concern of this study to develop some new arguments and show how they relate to more familiar ones against this still widely accepted theory. In particular I want to argue that not only is a constant conjunction of events not a sufficient, it is not even a necessary condition for a scientific law; and that it is only if we can establish the latter that we can provide an adequate rationale for the former. It has often been contended that a constant conjunction of events is insufficient, but it has not so far been systematically argued that it is not necessary. This can, however, be shown by a transcendental argument from the nature of experimental activity.
