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Title

Ceteris Paribus Laws in Physics.

Authors

Hüttemann, Andreas

Abstract

Earman and Roberts (in Synthese 118:439-478, claim that there is neither a persuasive account of the truth-conditions of ceteris paribus laws, nor of how such laws can be confirmed or disconfirmed. I will give an account of the truth conditions of ceteris paribus laws in physics in terms of dispositions. It will meet the objections standardly raised against such an account. Furthermore I will elucidate how ceteris paribus laws can be tested in physics. The essential point is that physics provides methodologies for dealing with disturbing factors. For this reason disturbing factors need not be listed explicitly in law-statements. In virtue of the methodologies it is possible to test how systems would behave if the disturbing factors were absent. I will argue that this suffices to establish the tenability of the dispositional account of ceteris paribus laws.

Subjects

PHYSICAL laws; COULOMB potential; SCHRODINGER equation; NEWTON'S second law of motion; QUANTUM mechanics; PHYSICS

Publication

Erkenntnis, 2014, Vol 79, Issue 10, p1715

ISSN

0165-0106

Publication type

Academic Journal

DOI

10.1007/s10670-014-9637-6