Title: CP-Law Statements as Vague, Self-Referential, Self-Locating, Statistical, and Perfectly in Order.
Authors: Roberts, John
Abstract: I propose understanding CP-law statements as statements that assert the existence of vague statistical laws, not by fully specifying the contents of those laws, but by picking them out via a description that is both self-referential and self-locating. I argue that this proposal validates many common assumptions about CP-laws and correctly classifies many examples of putative CP-laws. It does this while avoiding the most serious worries that motivate some philosophers to be skeptical of CP-laws, namely the worry that they lack non-trivial truth conditions and that it is impossible for empirical evidence to disconfirm them.
Subjects: PHYSICAL laws; NEWTON'S second law of motion; SKEPTICISM; PROBABILITY theory; HYPOTHESIS; PHILOSOPHY of science
Publication: Erkenntnis, 2014, Vol 79, Issue 10, p1775
ISSN: 0165-0106
Publication type: Academic Journal
DOI: 10.1007/s10670-014-9641-x

CP-Law Statements as Vague, Self-Referential, Self-Locating, Statistical, and Perfectly in Order.

Roberts, John