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Reply to Niiniluoto

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Fred I. Dretske
Fred I. Dretske*
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin
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Extract

In “Laws of Nature” [1] I argued that natural laws are not universal truths. Laws have properties that enable them to function in a special way. Since universal truths do not have these properties, they cannot be promoted to the status of laws by assigning them this function, by using them in the way laws are typically used. To suppose that we could effect this transformation by the way we used a generalization is like supposing that we could make thumb tacks into garden hoses by using them to water flowers. It will not work. Thumb tacks lack the requisite structure. Hence, they cannot be used in the way garden hoses are normally used. And universal truths lack the properties that would enable them to function, and thereby qualify, as laws of nature.

Type
Discussion
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 45 , Issue 3 , September 1978 , pp. 440 - 444
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1978

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References

[1] Dretske, Fred. “Laws of Nature.” Philosophy of Science 44 (1977): 248–268.10.1086/288741CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[2] Niiniluoto, I. “Dretske on Laws of Nature.” Philosophy of Science 45 (1978): 431–439.10.1086/288817CrossRefGoogle Scholar