Andersen, Holly (2023) Every View is a View From Somewhere: Pragmatist Laws and Possibility. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Humean accounts of laws are often contrasted with governing accounts, and recent developments have added pragmatic versions of Humeanism. This paper offers Mitchell's pragmatist, perspectival account of laws as a third option. The differences between these accounts come down to the role of modality. Mitchell's bottom-up account allows for subtle gradations of modal content to be conveyed by laws. The perspectival character of laws is not an accident or something to be eventually eliminated - it is part of how this modal content is conveyed. I conclude with a discussion of the metaphysical commitments in Humeanism as requiring a perspectiveless view of the manifold from outside, and how Mitchell's situated account is better able to account for the substantive notion of possibility involved in scientific laws.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Andersen, Holly holly_andersen@sfu.ca 0000-0002-7950-8186
Keywords:	pragmatism, Humeanism, laws, perspectivism, modality
Subjects:	General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics General Issues > Causation General Issues > Explanation General Issues > Laws of Nature
Depositing User:	Dr. Holly Andersen
Date Deposited:	20 Sep 2023 11:28
Last Modified:	20 Sep 2023 11:28
Item ID:	22563
Subjects:	General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics General Issues > Causation General Issues > Explanation General Issues > Laws of Nature
Date:	2023
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/22563

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