2025/12/30 by Otávio Bueno, Cristián Soto · 1 voice
Psychology · Arts and Humanities · #Philosophy and Theoretical Science #Philosophy and History of Science #Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
paper · pdf · doi:10.36446/af.e1219
openalex publication_date 2025/12/30 · openalex created_date 2026/01/05 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
From an empiricist perspective, we argue that physical modality best accounts for the modal status of laws (understood in empiricist terms as suitable empirical regularities). Nomic modality need not be construed in terms of metaphysical modal features. Rather, we submit, we live in a world full of physical possibilities and necessities that are investigated by such processes as gathering evidence, improving inferential practices, and undertaking theory and model construction. Empiricists can safely take distance from Humean accounts of nomic modality, hence maintaining that laws are not restricted to yielding summaries of actual phenomena but inform us about the range of physical possibilities and necessities in their domains. None of this requires the introduction of a metaphysical basis for nomic modality.