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Christian Löw: Pragmatic Humeanism and the Counterfactual Invariance of Natural Laws

Wed
8
Feb
Time Wednesday 8 February, 2023 at 13:15 - 15:00
Place HUM.H.119 (HD108)

The Research Seminar Series in Philosophy invites you to a seminar with Christian Löw, "Pragmatic Humeanism and the Counterfactual Invariance of Natural Laws".

Abstract: What are laws of nature? Anti-Humeans hold that laws are sui generis metaphysical entities that govern what happens. Humeans, by contrast, hold that the world’s fundamental structure is non-modal: just one thing and then another. Laws of nature, according to Humeans, are mere salient patterns in the distribution of non-modal properties. Recently, some philosophers have developed Humeanism in a pragmatic spirit. According to pragmatic Humeans, the laws are whatever facts about the distribution of non-modal properties are most useful for helping creatures like us get around in the world. Dorst, Jaag and Loew, and Bhogal have argued that pragmatic Humeanism is better than orthodox Humeanism at explaining the laws’ characteristic relation to counterfactuals. In a forthcoming paper, Lange argues that this advantage is illusory. In this talk, I reply to Lange’s criticism.

All interested are welcome to participate in this seminar.

About the seminar series

Learn more about the seminar series in Philosophy and upcoming events

Event type: Seminar
Speaker
Christian Löw
Associate professor
Read about Christian Löw
Contact
Pär Sundström
Read about Pär Sundström