Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T13:24:43.429Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Universality of Laws in Space and Time

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2023

Robert Rynaslewicz
Robert Rynaslewicz*
Affiliation:
Case Western Reserve University
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Part of our folklore is that genuine laws of nature must be universal in space and time. The purpose of this note is to explicate and compare various senses of this requirement. I am not concerned to argue here that the requirement, in any one of its explicated forms, should or should not be adopted.

If it is hard to state straight out exactly what is demanded by universality in space and time, Michael Tooley has provided an example of a hypothetical law which fails the requirement in a significant sense:

All fruit in Smith’s garden at any time are apples. When one attempts to take an orange into the garden, it turns into an elephant. Bananas so treated become apples as they cross the boundary, while pears are resisted by a force that cannot be overcome.

Type
Part I. Physics
Information
PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association , Volume 1986 , Issue 1: Volume One: Contributed Papers 1986 , 1986 , pp. 66 - 75
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1986

Footnotes

1

I would like to thank John Earman for several helpful comments on an earlier draft of his paper.

References

Anderson, J.L (1964). “Relativity Principles and the Role of Coordinates in Physics.” In Gravitation and Relativity. Edited by Chui, H and Hoffman, W. New York: Benjamin. Pages 175–194.Google Scholar
Anderson, J.L. (1967). Principles of Relativity Physics. New York: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Armstrong, D.M (1983). What Is a Law of Nature? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Earman, J. 1974). “Covariance, Invariance, and the Equivalence of Frames.” Foundations of Physics 4: 267–289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Earman, J. (1978). “The Universality of Laws.” Philosophy of Science 45: 173–181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Earman, J. (forthcoming). “Meaningfulness and Invariance.” In Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science. Edited by Savage, C. Wad Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Einstein, A. (1916). “Die Grundlage der allgemainen Relativitaetstheorie.” Annalen der Physik 49: 769–822. (Reprinted as “The Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity.” In Lorentz, H.A et. al. The Principle of Relativity , (trans.) Perret, W and Jeffrey, G.B New York: Dover, 1952. Pages 111-164.)Google Scholar
Friedman, M. (1983). Foundations of Space-Time Theories. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Sklar, L. (1974). Space, Time, and Spacetime. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Tooley, M. (1977). “The Nature of Laws.” Canadian Journal of Philosophy 7: 667–698.CrossRefGoogle Scholar