Philosophy Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Laws of Nature, philosophy: laws of nature (physical laws) are descriptions of dependencies of physical quantities among each other. From the fact that these are descriptions, it follows that these are no regulations in the sense of e.g. legal regulations. N. Goodman suggests in “Fact, Fiction and Forecast” (1954) that natural laws should be formulated in the form of irreal conditional sentences (also known as counterfactual conditionals); If A were the case, B would have been the case._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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Charles Lyell on Natural Laws - Dictionary of Arguments
Gould IV 110 Natural Laws/Lyell/Gould: Uniformitarianism: the theory of Lyell (1) was a very specific and a restrictive theory of history, not (as is often mistakenly believed) a general explanation of how to proceed scientifically and methodically. Uniformity in the sense of sameness of natural laws was no longer controversial in Kelvin's time. But for Lyell it had a much stronger meaning: Uniformitarianism: 1. the speed of change should never vary greatly over time, 2. the earth should have always been about the same, so that its history had no direction, but represented a constantly dynamic equilibrium. GouldVsLyell: it was a rhetorical trick to combine the two meanings of uniformity. Thus, all opponents were disqualified as unscientific. KelvinVsUniformitarianism: his criticism of Lyell was quite legitimate in this respect. IV 103 Uniformitarianism (Theory of Ch. Lyell and James Hutton) VsCreationism. Creationism assumes a young earth created together with fossils. >Creationism. Two prerequisites for the theory of uniformity: 1. essentially unlimited time, 2. the earth retains its basic form for immeasurable time. Gould: Uniformity led to the theory of evolution. KelvinVsUniformity: Thesis: The Earth was first a liquid body. The surface is not older than perhaps 100 400 million years. (Later corrected to 20 million years). Disaster theory/Gould: (this was previously discredited). It became topical again due to Kelvin's assumption of a young earth. IV 105 VsKelvin: he based himself on the false assumption that the remaining heat of the earth is a kind of residual heat from its former liquid state. Kelvin did not know that most of the heat inside the earth is generated by radioactive decay. Radioactivity was discovered at the beginning of our century. Kelvin's theory collapsed. Thus the uniformitarianism won ((s) at that time). 1. Ch. Lyell (1830). Principles of geology. London: John Murray._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
GeoLyell I Charles Lyell Principles of Geology, Volume 1 Chicago 1990 Gould I Stephen Jay Gould The Panda’s Thumb. More Reflections in Natural History, New York 1980 German Edition: Der Daumen des Panda Frankfurt 2009 Gould II Stephen Jay Gould Hen’s Teeth and Horse’s Toes. Further Reflections in Natural History, New York 1983 German Edition: Wie das Zebra zu seinen Streifen kommt Frankfurt 1991 Gould III Stephen Jay Gould Full House. The Spread of Excellence from Plato to Darwin, New York 1996 German Edition: Illusion Fortschritt Frankfurt 2004 Gould IV Stephen Jay Gould The Flamingo’s Smile. Reflections in Natural History, New York 1985 German Edition: Das Lächeln des Flamingos Basel 1989 |
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> Counter arguments against Lyell
> Counter arguments in relation to Natural Laws
Ed. Martin Schulz, access date 2024-04-26