Woodward, James (2017) Physical Modality, Laws and Counterfactuals. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Standard philosophical accounts attempt to understand physical modality either in terms of special metaphysical entities and relationships (“relations between universals”, “powers”, “dispositions”) or in terms of the organization of non-modal information, as in Best Systems Analysis. This paper defends an alternative to both these approaches in which invariance and various independence conditions play a central role. The methodological importance of separating law-claims from claims about initial and boundary conditions is highlighted

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Woodward, James jfw@pitt.edu
Additional Information:	This paper is forthcoming in Synthese
Keywords:	Laws, Counterfactuals, Invariance
Subjects:	General Issues > Laws of Nature
Depositing User:	Jim Woodward
Date Deposited:	25 Dec 2018 21:40
Last Modified:	25 Dec 2018 21:40
Item ID:	15469
DOI or Unique Handle:	https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-017-1400-5
Subjects:	General Issues > Laws of Nature
Date:	1 April 2017
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/15469

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