What is a Law of Nature?

Cambridge Philosophy Classics

by D.M. Armstrong

First published in 1985, D. M. Armstrong's original work on what laws of nature are has continued to be influential in the areas of metaphysics and philosophy of science. Presenting a definitive attack on the sceptical Humean view, that laws are no more than a regularity of coincidence between stances of properties, Armstrong establishes his own theory and defends it concisely and systematically against objections. Presented in a fresh twenty-first-century series livery, and including a specially commissioned preface written by Marc Lange, illuminating its continuing importance and relevance to philosophical enquiry, this influential work is available for a new generation of readers.

Genres: Philosophy, Science, Metaphysics

184 pages, Paperback

First published November 17, 1983

About the author

David Malet Armstrong (born 8 July 1926), often D. M. Armstrong, is an Australian philosopher. He is well-known for his work on metaphysics and the philosophy of mind, and for his defence of a factualist ontology, a functionalist theory of the mind, an externalist epistemology, and a necessitarian conception of the laws of nature. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008.

Reviews

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic. There was a lot in here that I found quite interesting. It's nice to see a governing theory so well worked out (even if the necessitation relation is still a bit mysterious). Armstrong's higher-order laws (especially those that ground counterfactuals for uninstantiated laws) were particularly interesting.