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Laws of Nature

  • Book
  • © 2005

Overview

Authors:
  1. Peter Mittelstaedt

    1. Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität zu Köln, Köln, Germany

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  2. Paul A. Weingartner

    1. Institut für Philosophie, Universität Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria

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    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Fills a gap on the foundations of the natural sciences in the modern literature

  • Goal is to encourage the dialogue between scientists and philosophers

  • Both authors are internationally well-established experts on the philosophy of sciences

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Table of contents (15 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages I-XII
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  2. Introduction

    • Peter Mittelstaedt, Paul A. Weingartner
    Pages 1-2

  3. What is a Law of Nature?

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 3-3
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    2. Are there Laws of Nature at All?

      • Peter Mittelstaedt, Paul A. Weingartner
      Pages 5-12

    3. Can the Laws of Nature be Genuine Laws?

      • Peter Mittelstaedt, Paul A. Weingartner
      Pages 13-26

    4. Are the Laws of Logic Laws of Nature?

      • Peter Mittelstaedt, Paul A. Weingartner
      Pages 27-47

    5. Are the Laws of Mathematics Laws of Nature?

      • Peter Mittelstaedt, Paul A. Weingartner
      Pages 49-62

  4. Properties of Laws

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 64-64
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    2. Does Every Law of Nature Express an Invariance (Symmetry)?

      • Peter Mittelstaedt, Paul A. Weingartner
      Pages 65-93

    3. Is Every Law of Nature Spacetime Invariant?

      • Peter Mittelstaedt, Paul A. Weingartner
      Pages 95-140

    4. Dynamical and Statistical Laws

      • Peter Mittelstaedt, Paul A. Weingartner
      Pages 141-173

    5. Laws, Boundary Conditions, and Constants of Nature

      • Peter Mittelstaedt, Paul A. Weingartner
      Pages 175-198

    6. Causality and Predictability

      • Peter Mittelstaedt, Paul A. Weingartner
      Pages 199-264

    7. Laws and Objects

      • Peter Mittelstaedt, Paul A. Weingartner
      Pages 265-279

    8. Completeness and Reliability

      • Peter Mittelstaedt, Paul A. Weingartner
      Pages 281-306

  5. Why are Laws of Nature Valid?

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 307-307
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    2. Statistical Laws

      • Peter Mittelstaedt, Paul A. Weingartner
      Pages 309-328

    3. Quantum Logic

      • Peter Mittelstaedt, Paul A. Weingartner
      Pages 329-346

    4. Correction to: Laws of Nature

      • Peter Mittelstaedt, Paul A. Weingartner
      Pages C1-C1

  6. Back Matter

    Pages 347-376
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Keywords

About this book

Thisbook isnotatextbook tobecomeacquainted with thelaws ofnature. An elementaryknowledgeaboutlawsofnature,inparticularthelawsofphysics,is presupposed. Thebookisratherintendedtoprovideaclari?cationofconcepts and properties of the laws of nature. The authors would like to emphasise that this book has been developed – created – as a real teamwork. Although the chapters (and in some cases parts of the chapters) were originally written by one of the two authors, all of them were discussed thoroughly and in detail and have been revised and complemented afterwards. Even if both authors were in agreement on most of the foundational issues discussed in the book, they did not feel it necessary to balance every viewpoint. Thus some individual and personal di?erence or emphasis will still be recognisable from the chapters written by the di?erent authors. In this sense the authors feel speci?cally responsible for the chapters as follows: Mittelstaedt for Chaps. 4, 9. 3, 10, 11. 2, 12, 13 and Weingartner for Chaps. 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8. 2, 9. 2, 9. 4. The remaining parts are joint sections. Most of the chapters are formulated as questions and they begin with arguments pro and contra. Then a detailed answer is proposed which contains a systematic discussion of the question. This is the respective main part of the chapter. It sometimes begins with a survey of the problem by giving some important answers to it from history (cf. Chaps. 6 and 9).

Authors and Affiliations

  • Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität zu Köln, Köln, Germany

    Peter Mittelstaedt

  • Institut für Philosophie, Universität Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria

    Paul A. Weingartner

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