Laws and Symmetry

Metaphysicians speak of laws of nature in terms of necessity and universality; scientists, in terms of symmetry and invariance. In this book van Fraassen argues that no metaphysical account of laws can succeed. He analyzes and rejects the arguments that there are laws of nature, or that we must believe there are, and argues that we should disregard the idea of law as an adequate clue to science. After exploring what this means for general epistemology, the author develops the empiricist view of science as a construction of models to represent the phenomena.


Author: Bas C. Van Fraassen
Publisher: Clarendon Press
Published: 01/04/1990
Pages: 416
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 8.48h x 5.50w x 0.97d
ISBN: 9780198248606

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