ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to clarify the notion of a law of nature, by
opposing it to that of an accidental universal correlation. We shall analyse
the semantic difference between statements of law and other statements of
universal scope. It will result from this comparison that it is neither valid to
infer the existence of a nomological relation from the existence of a uni-
versal correlation, nor to infer from a law that the properties it relates are
universally coinstantiated. The first claim is widely accepted but the second
is incompatible with most currently defended accounts of laws: in effect, it is equivalent to the claim that most laws of nature allow for exceptions
under certain circumstances.
