Abstract
Stephen Mumford (2004)MUMFORD, S. Laws in Nature, London : Routledge, 2004. proposes an alternative to Nomological Realism (NR) compatible with the modal commitments commonly associated to realist positions, a Realist Lawlessness (RL) in which the weight of modality is not set on laws but on properties, understood in terms of powers and propensities. However, RL's relative merits depend on a series of objections presented to NR. The main one is the so-called Central Dilemma, according to which NR is unable to give an account of how laws govern their instances. In this paper, I aim to show that neither the Central Dilemma nor the rest of Mumford's arguments against NR justify its rejection.
Keywords
Natural laws; scientific laws; Nomological Realism