On Why-Questions in Physics

Székely, Gergely (2008) On Why-Questions in Physics.

Abstract

In natural sciences, the most interesting and relevant questions are
the so-called why-questions.

There are several different approaches to why-questions and
explanations in the literature, however, most of the literature deals with why-questions about
particular events, such as ``Why did Adam eat the apple?''. Even the
best known theory of explanation, Hempel's covering law model, is
designed for explaining particular events. Here we only deal with
purely theoretical why-questions about general phenomena of physics,
for instance ``Why can no observer move faster than light?'' or ``Why
are Kepler's laws valid?''.

Here we are not going to develop a whole new theory of why-questions
in physics. We will just touch upon some ideas and examples relevant
to our subject.