Abstract
Many have claimed that ceteris paribus (CP) laws are a quite legitimate feature of scientific theories, some even going so far as to claim that laws of all scientific theories currently on offer are merely CP. We argue here that one of the common props of such a thesis, that there are numerous examples of CP laws in physics, is false. Moreover, besides the absence of genuine examples from physics, we suggest that otherwise unproblematic claims are rendered untestable by the mere addition of the CP operator. Thus, “CP all Fs are Gs”, when read as a straightforward statement of fact, cannot be the stuff of scientific theory. Rather, we suggest that when “ceteris paribus” appears in scientific works it plays a pragmatic role of pointing to more respectable claims.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Cartwright, N.: 1983, How the Laws of Nature Lie, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Cartwright, N.: 1989, Nature’s Capacities and Their Measurement, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Cartwright, N.: 1999, The Dappled World: A Study of the Boundaries of Science, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Cartwright, N.: 2002, ‘In Favor of Laws That Are Not Ceteris Paribus After All’, (this issue).
Earman, J. and J. Roberts: 1999, ‘Ceteris Paribus, There Are No Provisos’, Synthese 118, 439–478.
Fodor, J.: 1991, ‘You Can Fool Some of the People All the Time, Everything Else Being Equal: Hedged Laws and Psychological Explanations’, Mind 100, 19–34.
Giere, R.: 1999, Science without Laws, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Hausman, D.: 1992, The Inexact and Separate Science of Economics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Hempel, C. G.: 1988, ‘Provisos: A Philosophical Problem Concerning the Inferential Function of Scientific Laws’, in A. Grünbaum and W. Salmon (eds), The Limits of Deductivism, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, pp. 19–36.
Hume, D.: 1748/1993, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding,Oxford University Press, Oxford, Cambridge.
Kincaid, H.: 1996. Philosophical Foundations of the Social Sciences, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Lange, M.: 1993, ‘Natural Laws and the Problem of Provisos’, Erkenntnis 38, 233–248.
Lange, M.: 2000, Natural Laws in Scientific Practice, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Lange, M.: 2002, ‘Who’s Afraid of Ceteris Paribus Laws? Or: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Them’, (this issue).
Lewis, D.: 1973, Counterfactuals, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Lipton, P.: 1999,’All Else Being Equal’, Philosophy 74, 155–168.
Morreau, M.: 1999, ‘Other Things Being Equal’, Philosophical Studies 96, 163–182.
Pietroski, R and G. Rey: 1995, ‘When Other Things Aren’t Equal: Saving Ceteris Paribus Laws from Vacuity’, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 46, 81–110.
Schurz, G.: 2001, ‘Pietroski and Rey on Ceteris Paribus Laws’, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 52, 359–370.
Schurz, G.: 2002, ‘Ceteris Paribus Laws’, (this issue).
Smith, S.: 2002, ‘Violated Laws, Ceteris Paribus Clauses, and Capacities’, Synthese 130 (2), 235–264.
Woodward, J.: 2000, ‘Explanation and Invariance in the Special Sciences’, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 51, 197–254.
Woodward, J.: 2002, ‘There Is No Such Thing as a Ceteris Paribus Law’, (this issue).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2002 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Earman, J., Roberts, J.T., Smith, S. (2002). Ceteris Paribus Lost. In: Earman, J., Glymour, C., Mitchell, S. (eds) Ceterus Paribus Laws. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1009-1_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1009-1_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-6173-7
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-1009-1
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive